The City of London Corporation has today [7 November] launched a report alongside the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) calling on policymakers to reduce barriers to investment in order to accelerate the development of India’s green finance market.

Written with input from the UK-India Green Finance Working Group, Untapped Potential: Supercharging Green Finance in India looks at the opportunities and challenges for sustainable finance in India and offers recommendations on how to drive forward the sector, including:

• Reduce structural barriers to investment, including development of the Rupee-denominated Masala bond market;
• Innovative financing mechanisms tailored to the Indian landscape;
• Increased transparency and standards;•Greater visibility of opportunities and funding gaps;
• Further government cooperation to building domestic support in India, and greater technical experience sharing among regulators;
• Targeted policy reforms and incentives, such as changes to the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) guidelines by the Reserve Bank of India for issuers with ‘green’ track records.

The UK-India Green Finance Working Group was founded in May 2019 to showcase best practice among London-based firms with an interest in sustainable infrastructure projects in India.

Chaired by Richard Abel, Managing Director for UK Climate Investments at Macquarie and Hitendra Dave, Managing Director at HSBC India, it aims to create a link between London-based service providers with a business interest in green infrastructure in India, and Indian-based firms searching for expertise or financing through the UK-India Green Finance Dialogue and Partnership.

City of London Corporation Policy Chair Catherine McGuinness said:

“The UK is a leading global hub for green finance, home to many world-class institutions from all stages of the investment lifecycle, from project conception to delivery and advisory.

“India is a market with incredible diversity of opportunity and collaboration between our two countries gives us a chance to make a real difference to the climate change efforts.

“We are therefore delighted to be launching this step towards supercharging relations between the UK and India.”

FICCI Secretary General Mr Dilip Chenoy said:

“Sustainable finance is indeed an imperative for achieving low-carbon, inclusive and stable growth for India.

“India and UK have a long-standing relationship and both countries can mutually collaborate and proactively support initiatives on green growth and investment internationally to unlock domestic and international flow of green capital.

“The report Untapped Potential: Supercharging Green Finance in India of the UK-India Green Finance Working Group is a welcome step in this regard.”

India-Chair, India-UK Working Group on Green Finance and Managing Director and Head of Global Banking and Markets, HSBC India Mr Hitendra Dave said:

“India and UK both are witnessing a greater understanding of new opportunities created by the convergence of the economic and environmental priorities.

“The report is indeed a very high quality first report being launched at the most opportune times and should act as an anchor and reference point as we all move to the next stage of implementation, policy advocacy and defining and executing the more granular steps to scale up sustainable finance for India.”

The City Corporation has a longstanding programme of work in India, and opened a representative office in Mumbai twelve years ago. 15 Indian financial firms are based in the Square Mile which the City Corporation works closely with, and there are many more based across London.

ENDS

Notes to editors

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London within a globally-successful UK. www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

Permanent members of the UK-India Green Finance Working Group include:

• Willis Towers Watson
• Standard Chartered
• London Stock Exchange Group
• Climate Bond Initiative
• Agvesto
• Green Finance Initiative
• HM Treasury
• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

For more information contact:

Nathan Rodgers, Media Officer for Asia
City of London Corporation

Nathan.rodgers@cityoflondon.gov.uk

+44 （0）207 332 3451
+44（0）7864 625 086