SBI lists $650-mn green bonds on India INX, Luxembourg Stock Exchange

State Bank of India listed its USD 650-million green bonds simultaneously on the India International Exchange and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange

State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday listed its USD 650-million 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.

The World Investor Week (WIW) 2021 is being observed starting today till November 28.

Last year in November, India INX, the international arm of BSE, had announced its memorandum of understanding with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) for cooperation in financial services industry, maintenance of orderly markets in securities respective country, ESG (environmental, social and governance) and green finance in the local market.

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

SBI Managing Director Ashwini Kumar Tewari said in the statement, "The listing of green bond with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange will open up new avenues for market development and fundraising opportunities in the green bond space."

The lender has raised USD 800 million 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.

Till date, the global securities market has established over USD 58 billion in MTN (medium-term note) programmes. More than USD 33 billion of bonds have been issued till date, of which USD 4.3 billion of issuances are listed on the GSM Green platform.