SBI lists $650m green bonds on Luxembourg Stock Exchange

STATE Bank of India (SBI) has listed its $650-million (£486m) green bonds simultaneously on the India International Exchange (India INX) and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

This dual listing is in line with this year's topic of the World Investor Week, 'sustainable finance', as indicated by regulatory body International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), India INX said in a statement on Monday (22).

The World Investor Week 2021 is being observed till November 28.

In November last year, India INX, the international arm of BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange), had announced its memorandum of understanding with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) for cooperation in the financial services industry and green finance in the local market.

This dual listing of green bonds is the first step towards this collaborative effort, the statement said.

SBI managing director Ashwini Kumar Tewari said the listing will “open up new avenues for market development and fundraising opportunities in the green bond space."

The lender has raised $800m (£598m) in the green bond market so far, he said.

India INX managing director and CEO V Balasubramaniam said, "We will work towards establishing a green corridor with Luxembourg to enable Indian Issuers to automatically qualify for dual listing with LuxSE to get investors from Europe and the globe."

In 2019, India INX had unveiled GSM Green, a platform for fundraising and trading in green, social and sustainable bonds exclusively.

To date, the global securities market has established over $58 billion (£43.4 bn) in medium-term note programmes. More than $33 bn (£24.7 bn) of bonds have been issued, of which $4.3 bn (£3.2 bn) of issuances are listed on the GSM Green platform.

(PTI)