Ghaziabad issues India’s first municipal green bonds

Funds to be used to recycle waste water for drinking 

Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam (GNN) has announced the raising and listing of India’s first Green Municipal bond issue, reported the Hindu Businessline. GNN raised ₹150 crore at a cost of 8.1%. The money will be used to clean up dirty water by setting up a tertiary water treatment plant and supply piped water through water-meters to places like Sahibabad.

“We received ₹401 crore subscription from some 40 investors who participated in the Ghaziabad Green Municipal Bond”, Mahender Singh Tawar, Municipal Commissioner, GNN, said in a conference.

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Ashish Chauhan, MD and CEO, BSE, said that this listing will develop the green bond market for urban local bodies. He added that Bombay Stock Exchange as a platform can now be used by urban local bodies to raise funds.

In the next year, bonds can be expected from Kanpur, Agra and Varanasi. The Lucknow bond issue was subscribed four times as well. So far, apart from Ghaziabad, nine cities have earlier raised municipal bonds. These are Ahmedabad, Surat, Visakhapatnam, Amravati, Indore, Bhopal, Pune, Hyderabad and Lucknow.