New Delhi, May 17 (IANS): The World Bank said on Monday it has approved a $625 million loan to support India's grid connected rooftop solar programme to generate clean energy.

"The project will finance the installation of at least 400 MW of grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic (GRPV) across India," the multilateral lender said in a statement here.

The World Bank Board has also approved a co-financing loan of $120 million on concessional terms and a $5 million grant from Climate Investment Fund's (CIF) Clean Technology Fund, it added.

"India is endowed with huge solar energy potential, and the World Bank is strongly supportive of the government's plans to harness this potential and increase India's solar PV capacity to 100 GW, said World Bank country director in India Onno Ruhl.

"This project will support this target, by providing financing to some of the 40 GW of solar PV which will be placed on rooftops," he added.

The project will be implemented by the State Bank of India (SBI), which will on-lend funds to solar PV developers, aggregators and end-users, who wish to invest in mainly commercial and industrial rooftop PV systems.

Financing will be provided to those with sound technical capacity, relevant experience, and creditworthiness as per SBI standards.

The World Bank loan has a 19.5 year grace period, and a maturity of 20 years. The loan from CIF's Clean Technology Fund has a 10 year grace period, and a maturity of 40 years. The overall potential demand for rooftop solar is estimated at about 124,000 MW, the release said.