MAY 20249HYUNDAI MOTORS TO INCREASE PRODUCTION QUOTA WITH NEWLY ACQUIRED PLANTREC SECURES RS.3,200 CRORE LOAN TO FUND GREEN ENERGY PROJECTSHyundai Motor Group announced its plans to boost the annual production capacity of the Hyundai and Kia brands in India to 1.5 million units per year as part of its mid-to-long-term strategy in the country. Executive Chair Euisun Chung outlined the company's strategy during his visit to India on April 23 to reinforce its position as a leading mobility provider.The expansion involves establishing an annu-al production system of 1.5 million vehicle units for Hyundai Motor India and Kia India combined. Hyund-ai Motor India will commence operations at its Pune plant, acquired from General Motors last year, in the second half of next year. The facility is being upgraded to serve as a production hub capable of manufactur-ing over 200,000 units annually. Combined with the Chennai plant's production capacity of 824,000 units, Hyundai Motor will have an annual production capaci-ty exceeding one million units.Additionally, Kia India's yearly production capaci-ty will be expanded to 431,000 units within the first half of this year. Together, Hyundai Motor Group aims to produce approximately 1.5 million units annually in India. The group also intends to broaden its electric vehicle (EV) lineup and establish an EV ecosystem to accelerate customer adoption and enhance charging infrastructure. REC announced on Thursday that it has secured a green loan amounting to JPY 60.536 billion (ap-proximately 3,200 crore) to fund eligible clean energy projects. This green facility benefits from an 80 percent guarantee provided by the Italian export credit agency, SACE (Italy).This announcement comes after REC issued its first yen-denominated green bonds worth 61.1 billion yen in January under its $10-billion global medium-term notes program.Exploring the Japanese market for financing aligns with REC strategy, as interest rates in Japan are general-ly lower compared to US-dollar-denominated loans. The company has set an ambitious target of achieving a green finance loan book of 3 lakh crore by 2029-30.In September 2023, REC revealed that it had engaged in discussions with renewable energy developers, lead-ing to the signing of memoranda of understanding to-taling approximately 2.86 lakh crore. This indicates a significant step towards achieving its green finance ob-jectives. TOPSTORIES
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