Gujarat state civic body accepts bids for maiden green bonds: Bankers

India's Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has accepted bids worth Rs 200 crore ($24.1 million) for its debut green bonds maturing in five years, three bankers said on Monday.
 

The city, situated in the Western state of Gujarat, has set a semi-annual coupon of 7.90%, and had invited bids from bankers and investors for the issue earlier in the day.
 

SBI Capital Markets and Tipsons Consultancy Services are the arrangers for this issue.
 

"The bond issue witnessed higher than anticipated interest from investors across classes. The issue saw subscription interest of more than 13 times of the base size," said Nagesh Chauhan, head of debt capital market at Tipsons Group.

"The issue attracted lot of interest from institutional investors displaying confidence in financial stability and debt servicing capabilities of municipal corporation. This will boost the sentiment in municipal bond market and we may see more issuance in near future." This is the second debt issuance by Ahmedabad Municipal Corp, which last tapped the bond market in 2019, raising 2 billion rupees via 5-year bonds at a coupon of 8.70%.
 

This is also the second bond issuance by any municipal body in the current financial year, after Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corp raised 2 billion rupees via five years bonds at a coupon of 8.15% in July.