Decision On Issuing Green Bonds Next Month: RBI Governor

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday said that the decision regarding issuance of green bonds, which were announced in the budget, will be taken in March.

While presenting the budget for 2022-23, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that government will issue sovereign green bonds to generate resources for green infrastructure, while informing that proceeds from these bonds will be used in public sector projects which help in reducing carbon intensity of the economy.

Speaking to media persons after the customary post budget address of the finance minister to RBI board members, Mr Das said the monitoring group on cash and debt management will meet next month and it will make preparations for the issuance of green bonds.

"The main rationale behind going for green bond is that world over there are a lot of investors who have dedicated funds to invest in green bonds. So, basically when you float a green bond, ... (it) has a specified and dedicated purpose," he said.

It will help widen the participation of international investors in the domestic bond market because there are a lot of funds internationally available which are dedicated for investing in green infrastructure projects.

The budget had indicated that green bonds are part of the overall borrowing for the next financial year.

During 2022-23, the government plans to borrow a record Rs 11.6 lakh crore from the market to meet its expenditure requirement to prop up the economy hit by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about inclusion of government securities (G-secs) in the global indices, he said, "It is a process and earlier fully accessible route was introduced whereby certain G-secs are fully accessible to the foreign investors. We are moving towards that. It is work in progress as far as inclusion in indices is concerned."

The move would attract higher foreign flows as many overseas funds are mandated to track global indices. It will also help bring in large passive investments from overseas, as a result of which more domestic capital would be available for industry as crowding out would be reduced.

Some specified securities which will be listed on the indices will not have a lock-in requirement.