Japan's SoftBank to invest up to $100 billion in Indian solar - NHK

SoftBank Group Corp has decided to invest $60 billion-$100 billion in solar power generation in India, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

SoftBank and the Indian government are expected to reach a formal agreement soon after final arrangements are made, the report said without naming its sources.

The company is expected to make the investment through a fund backed by Saudi Arabia`s government, NHK said. Saudi Arabia is the largest investor in SoftBank`s Vision Fund, which raised over $93 billion last year. 

A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment. 

In 2015 SoftBank pledged to invest $20 billion in Indian solar projects with a goal of generating 20 gigawatts (GW) of energy as the majority partner in a joint venture with India`s Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan`s Foxconn.

Last month SoftBank secured 200 megawatts of solar capacity at an auction in the southwestern state of Karnataka.

In April it teamed up with China`s GCL System Integration Technology Co Ltd on a $930 million Indian solar energy venture.

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India has set a target to achieve an operational solar power capacity of 100 GW by 2022, five times current levels, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s renewable energy strategy. 

SoftBank`s Vision Fund has exposure to solar energy through its investment in the world`s largest such project in Saudi Arabia announced in March.