as buildings, energy, transport, water and waste – more than twice the current stock of global public capital. estimates from the international energy agency ( iea ), organisation for economic co - operation and development ( oecd ), world bank and world economic forum confirm these orders of magnitude. green financing is a potent instrument to accelerate the process of sustainable development. so what is the position in india? 10. historically, india has always incorporated sustainable development as a way of doing business. in vedanta, business is viewed as legitimate and an integral part of society, but essentially it should create wealth for the society through the right means of action. “ sarva loka hitam ” in the vedic literature refers to “ wellbeing of stakeholders ”. this means an ethical and socially responsible system must be fundamental to all business undertakings. 11. more recently, as was the case with other developing economies, the era of globalisation and privatisation of the 1990s witnessed increased capital investment with asset creation through new economically viable projects, production of more goods and services, widening market outreach from local to regional to national and even global levels. the attendant adverse impact of wider industrialisation on environment was also a focus. however, climate change concerns received wider recognition and acceptance with the signing of the kyoto protocol. india demonstrated its commitment to combating global warming by ratifying the protocol in august 2002. bis central bankers ’ speeches 12. since sustainable development goals demand immense capital contribution which cannot be provided by governments and public sector institutions alone, a framework has been put in place to involve a number of stakeholders. as part of the legislative framework, the companies act, 2013 mandates that larger companies should contribute atleast 2 % of their average net profits annually towards corporate social responsibility ( csr ) activities which includes, inter - alia, the following : a. promoting preventive health care and sanitation and making available safe drinking water ; b. ensuring environmental sustainability, ecological balance, protection of flora and fauna, animal welfare, agroforestry, conservation of natural resources and maintaining quality of soil, air and water ; c. contributions or funds provided to technology incubators located within academic institutions ; and d. rural development projects 13. the government of india has, in turn, launched a number of niche specialised funds / schemes such as textile upgradation fund, credit linked capital subsidy scheme, and tannery modernisation scheme with a desire to move indian enterprises towards cleaner production. 14.

. in the renewable energy segment, bank loans of up to rs. 15 crore for solar - based power generators, biomass - based power generators, wind mills, micro - hydel plants, etc. will be considered part of psl. for individual households, the loan limit will be rs 10, 00, 000 a borrower. the rbi has also recently introduced market for trading priority sector lending obligations, incentivizing lower cost delivery. 18. the external commercial borrowing ( ecb ) norms have been further liberalized so that green projects can tap this window for raising finance across the borders. extant guidelines permit use of ecb proceeds to retire outstanding rupee loans provided minimum average maturity of ecb is 10 years or ecb is denominated in rupees. ecb can also be raised to refinance existing ecb provided all - in - cost is lower than that of existing one and residual maturity is not reduced. 19. the securities and exchange board of india ( sebi ) has, in january this year, put in place the framework for issuance of green bonds and the listing requirements for such bonds. 2015 was the year india entered the green bond market, with a total of us $ 1. 1 bn of green bonds issued from a handful of pioneer issuers ( yes bank, export - import bank of india, clp wind farms and idbi ). sustainability reporting 20. in 2012, the securities and exchange board of india ( sebi ), mandated the annual business responsibility reporting ( abrr ), a reporting framework based on the national voluntary guidelines on social, environmental and economic responsibilities of business ( nvgs ) released by the ministry of corporate affairs. these guidelines serve as a driver to pursue sustainable management practices as a means to reaching sustainable development goals. way forward 21. the challenge, before developing economies like us is to mainstream green finance so as to incorporate the environmental impact into commercial lending decisions while simultaneously balancing the needs of economic growth and social development. this will necessarily mean setting out on the journey of integrating financial system and sustainable development which has numerous goal - posts. these goal - posts could include : a. developing awareness about environmental vulnerabilities and risks among the stakeholders especially market intermediaries. b. develop a commonly accepted set of green finance definitions and indicators that can be used to make cross - country or cross - market comparisons. c. identify and develop green financial products and services which can be introduced in the market. d.