NMC green bonds on NSE, BSE oversubscribed 5.24x

Nashik: The Nashik Municipal Corporation's green bonds were listed on NSE and BSE on Monday, drawing a strong investor response with an oversubscription of 5.24 times. The civic body aims to raise Rs 200 crore to fund key water supply projects linked to the Mukane dam.

NMC (Nashik Municipal Corporation) commissioner Manisha Khatri, in her address at the listing ceremony, said the civic body had earlier floated municipal bonds in Dec 2025, which were oversubscribed 3.95 times. With the latest issue, NMC has become the first municipal corporation in the country to complete both public and private bond issuances within a single financial year, she said.

Khatri said the green bond proceeds would finance expansion of the Mukane water supply scheme, including a water treatment plant and a gravity-based main water distribution pipeline from Vilholi to Sadhugram in Tapovan, as well as a water treatment plant at Nilgiri Bag in the Panchavati division. These initiatives, she said, are expected to reduce the city's non-revenue water to 20% from 47%.

She said though NMC would pay Rs 104 crore in interest over the next decade, it would receive Rs 96 crore from the Centre's urban challenge funds, Rs 20 crore in incentives for raising green bond-based funds, and Rs 50 crore in accumulated escrow account interest. "Effectively, the bonds become interest-free for NMC," Khatri said.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis praised the civic body for successfully tapping the green bond route and asked MITRA (Maharashtra Institution for Transformation) CEO Praveen Pardeshi and additional chief secretary Aseem Kumar Gupta to identify projects for smaller municipal corporations. The CM encouraged exploring ways to collectively raise Rs 1,000 crore through similar bonds to support financially weaker civic bodies, emphasising that collaborative planning could strengthen urban infrastructure across Maharashtra.