An employee cleans a board during the preparations for the BRICS summit in Ufa, Russia, July 7, 2015. REUTERS/BRICS Photohost/RIA Novosti/Files

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The New Development Bank (NDB), formed by the BRICS group of emerging nations, has approved its first loans - $811 million for renewable energy projects in Brazil, China, India and South Africa, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday.

The BRICS bank, with authorised capital of $100 billion, started work last year on funding initiatives for infrastructure projects in emerging markets and in its initial foray has lent $300 million to Brazil, $81 million to China, $250 million to India and $180 million to South Africa, RIA news agency said.

“There are many more new projects in the pipeline including projects from Russia. They are at various stages of consideration and appraisal,” the agency cited the bank’s spokesperson as saying.