Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has become first in North India to have its bond listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath early this month. The response was overwhelming with subscription of over 200 crores within no time. UP achieved second rank in Ease of Doing Business motivating the Industrial Houses to avail the benefit of investment friendly liberal policies and rapidly
developed infrastructural facilities.
“The listing of 200 crores Municipal Bond is a step ahead for UP on the path of ‘self-reliance’. “Uttar Pradesh will play a pivotal role in fulfilling the commitment of Prime Minister of Atmanirbhar Bharat”, CM Yogi Adityanath asserted in a ringing bell ceremony in the Heritage Hall BSE and described the listing of the bond as ‘the starting of a new era’ in the history of the state.
The capital raised is proposed to partially fund the AMRUT projects and other infrastructure projects which had an earmarked requirement of 3,10.95 crores. The AA Stable and AA(CE) Stable rated bonds by India and Brickwork Ratings have a tenure of 10 years and state that the principal amount will be paid in 7 instalments from the 4th and 10th year.
“The ranking of the bond manifests the faith of investors, entrepreneurs, and the industry in the policies of Uttar Pradesh. Besides providing basic and infrastructure facilities to the people of the state and ensuring the development, the state has achieved 2nd rank in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ making a massive jump over the past years,” jubilant Yogi emphasised. Highlighting the potential of the biggest state of the country in terms of population and the 3rd biggest economy of the country, He said, “UP is marching ahead towards enormous developments in terms of industrialization and making value addition of its people.”
Elaborating his plans, he said “This step is important to change the fundamental work culture of Municipal corporations in the state and will help not only Lucknow in augmenting infrastructural facilities and funding but also motivate other corporations.” “Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation will soon bring its bond in BSE,” the CM said in the presence of entrepreneurs, investors, and BSE officials.
Speaking on this momentous occasion, the CM further added, “It is a matter of pride for UP that the Lucknow Municipal Corporation has raised 200 crore through its bond issue which got listed on BSE today. It is the trust of the investors, which UP has earned during the last three and a half years of governance. It will augment our effort to improve infrastructure in urban areas and it shows the improvement in the Industrial climate of the state and the trust the investors have reposed in the state machinery”
The Lucknow Municipal bond had received 21 bids and subscribed by 4.5 times. The corporation received bids for an Issue size of 200 Crores within 60 seconds of the issue opening, which opened for subscription on 13th November 2020. It’s one of the 8 cities in India that have capitalized on the new guidelines to fund the AMRUT and Smart Cities Mission to raise an aggregate of 3690 crores as per Govt released data.
On the occasion of the listing of the bonds, Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of Bombay Stock Stated “I would like to congratulate Lucknow Municipal Corporation for successfully raising 200 Crore by issuing Municipal Bond on BSE Bond platform. The order book was filled more than double in a matter of few minutes establishes Lucknow Municipal Corporation as a credible entity in the Indian bond market.”
MSME Units
The Chief Minister also said that his government has been encouraging the MSME units of the state for listing in NSE and BSE. So far 15 units have taken steps to meet their financial needs by listing on BSE. “The policies of the Uttar Pradesh government are investment-oriented. We are constantly striving for simplicity and ease for investors. In recent times, due to the single window system, the needs and expectations of investors are being suitably addressed,” he added.
He claimed, “the state has received unprecedented support from the industry at the Uttar Pradesh Investor Summit and this effort will continue. Now a defence corridor is being established in UP, which will be important in making the country a global hub in the field of defence production.”
Laying out the road map of the ambitious Defence corridor project, CM revealed plans and hoped the country will become not only self-reliant in defence production but also a major exporter. Interacting with the existing and potential investors of the defence industrial corridor while rolling red carpet for them, he said that your interest has motivated the state government as well. “We have IIT Kanpur and IIT BHU as our knowledge partner, assisting the plan of six nodes of defence corridor namely Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow have sufficient land and infrastructure while each node will be connected with the expressways very soon,” he said.
During his two-day visit, the UP CM spoke about some landmark projects being taken shape in the state while pointing out that there has been a lot of investment potential in Tourism, One District One Product (ODOP), and MSME. He said that the biggest greenfield airport of the Asia is coming up in Jewar (Noida) while the Purvanchal Expressway, Purvanchal Link and Bundelkhand Expressway are under construction, the work on about 600 kms long Ganga Expressway, linking Meerut and Prayagraj, will commence in June 2021. These Expressways will have corridors along them, which offer a good investment opportunity.
Medical Colleges on PPP model
CM Yogi said out of a total of 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh, many still require medical colleges. There is again an opportunity for investors to make these medical colleges on PPP model. Besides, the state needs super-specialty hospitals and the government will extend full support if somebody wants to set up these hospitals. For example, Gorakhpur has many patients coming from Bihar and Nepal and the super-specialty hospitals are always needed there, he said.
The top industrialists, businessmen and bankers who joined the interaction include N. Chandrashekhar, the chairman of Tata Sons, Dr. Niranjan Hiranandai, the CMD of Hiranandani group, Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge, Suprakash Chaudhary, CEO of Siemens Industry Software, S N Subramaniam, CEO and MD of L & T, Vikas Jain, the director of A K Capital Services, Varun Kaushik, the associate director of A K Capital Services, Sanjay Nair, Chairman of KKR Ltd, Jaspal Bindra, Chairman of Centrum Capital Ltd, Amit Nayyar, the president of one 97 communications and Dr Govid Rujulu Chintala , chairman, NABARD. A team of high level ministers Rajesh Mahana, Siddharth Nath Singh, Ashutosh Tandon along with a team of top bureaucrats was also present.
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