Viksit Bharat @ 2047: Transformative Role of Commerce, Management and Technology (Edition-III) (ISBN : 978-93-49468-06-1)

Sustainable Bonds in India: Issuer’s Categories and Market Evolution

Author: Ms. Maivis Bano & CA Yask Sain

The focus on environmental sustainability is rapidly growing in worldwide economies, which is mainly done by sustainable finance, consisting of sustainable bonds. Viksit Bharat 2047 aims to transform India into a developed nation relying on clean energy sources and low-carbon emission activities with a goal of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel energy by 2030, which makes sustainable finance a critical instrument. SEBI introduced Green Debt Securities in 2017, which was further expanded in 2025 to ESG Debt Securities consisting of sustainable bonds, sustainability-linked bonds and social bonds. Governments and investors are using such bonds to mobilize capital in environmentally and socially beneficial projects, such as sovereign green bonds. Still, there is a lack of analysis of the ESG Debt Securities market in India. This study consists of a thorough analysis of the ESG Debt Securities listed by SEBI from 2017 to 2025, including 26 issuers with a total amount of issuance of rupees 11,023 crores. The study mainly focuses on analysing the growth of ESG Debt Securities and distribution of issuers in four categories (renewable energy corporation, municipalities, financial institutions and infrastructure corporations) and examining contribution by each segment as per the coupon rates (6.00-6.99%, 7.00-7.99%, 8.00-8.99% and 9.00% & above) and number of bonds. The findings show the overall growth of the sustainable bonds market in India despite facing many challenges over the period of 2017-25 and notable contribution by issuers. This study analyzes the development of India's sustainable bond market and gives valuable insights to regulators and policymakers.

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