Neev Fund invests in Blue Planet to advance sustainable development in Asia

Blue Planet Environmental Solutions, an end to end waste management solutions company has announced that State Bank of India (SBI) backed Neev Fund has made a strategic investment in the company.

SBI is the largest commercial bank in India with a market share of 20 per cent of the country's total deposits, advances, customers and branches while DFID works towards building a safer, healthier, more prosperous world for people in developing countries by providing developmental capital.

The investment was made by Neev Fund, an infrastructure-focused private equity fund that was created as a partnership between SBI and the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID).

The investment was made to further the mandate of the fund, which aims to provide capital to portfolio entities to achieve long-term capital appreciation while promoting sustainable development.

The fund is managed by SBICAP Ventures, an alternative asset manager and a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets, which was ranked number 1 Global Bookrunner by Thomson Reuters with a volume of USD 7.7 billion.

With an objective to invest in the low income and developing states of India, Neev provides financial assistance for infrastructure sectors that directly relate to sustainable development including renewable energy, healthcare, education and urban solutions.

"We are delighted to be associated with the Neev Fund, who have a good understanding of this space and are backed by impactful investors such as State Bank of India and the Department For International Development of the United Kingdom," said Prashant Singh, founder and chief executive officer of Blue Planet Environmental Solutions.

He added that Neev Fund will give an additional impetus to aggressively scale up the business in the waste management space.

Making waste sustainable

Given the accelerating rate of urbanisation and growing waste volumes in India and in wider Asia, there is an urgent need to develop capacities in waste management to achieve responsible and sustainable economic growth.

The waste management industry in India is currently highly fragmented and inefficient and lacks the capacity to handle the ever-growing volumes of waste. This, in turn, results in social exclusion, environmental degradation and resource wastage, amid other societal issues.

With a vision to consolidate the waste management industry, Blue Planet will expand its operations in the region by deploying innovative technologies that enable maximum resource recovery in several waste streams.

The company adopts the Triple Bottom Line ethos of 'People, Planet, Profit' throughout its operations and is focused on the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects in its core business strategy and reporting processes.

Technology-driven execution

Blue Planet holds and continues to acquire scalable technologies to manage a variety of waste streams that can be customised based on the region's requirement. Ranging from processing thin-film plastic waste to processing organic waste, the company provides a wide spectrum of solutions to achieve Blue Planet's 'zero waste to landfill' policy.

"Blue Planet has demonstrated a unique advantage in the waste management business by successfully introducing global waste management technologies in India," said CEO Neev Fund, Manav Bansal.

"Moreover, the strategic vision of creating an on-ground impact for communities and environment aligns with Neev's vision of creating an impact and we are proud to partner with Blue Planet," he added.