EESL plans to raise $174 m bonds to expand LED programme

July 27: July 27: Energy Efficiency Services Ltd., the gover nment agency responsible for procuring and distributing energy-efficient LED bulbs in India, plans to raise about $174 million this year by selling bonds in India and abroad, a company executive said.

As part of a $1.2 billion efficient-lighting program -the brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- EESL has distributed 140 million LED bulbs out of the 770 million expected to be doled out by March 2019.

So far, 26 billion rupees ($386 million) has been spent to procure 180 million bulbs and 800,000 LED street lights, according to EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar. Eighty percent of the program is to be funded through debt, Kumar said.

“We’re going to issue the first tranche of domestic bonds of five billion rupees with a tenor of five years in September and are also preparing to issue green Masala bonds in November for $100 million on the London Stock Exchange," Kumar said in an interview in New Delhi. Bloomberg