Centre spent Rs 2,400 crore more than what it raised via green bonds
green projects in 2022-23, higher than its mop-up of ₹16,000 crore through sovereign green bonds when it had floated such papers for the first time, a senior official said citing the latest estimate.
According to the expenditure plan prepared by the finance ministry for the current financial year, the funds raised through such bonds will be used to finance green projects worth ₹23,764 crore, he said.
Given that the funds raised will have to be used strictly for green projects, the spending will be kept higher than the actual borrowing to assuage any apprehensions about potential misuse of such funds, officials had told ET earlier.
The government could borrow ₹20,000-22,000 crore through such green bonds in this financial year, they had said. To be sure, the government's overall annual budgetary spending on green projects cutting across sectors would be way above this level.
But such expenditures are not strictly segregated and classified on the basis of the environment-friendly nature of the projects.
However, since the government raised funds via green bonds last fiscal, it had to formally identify certain green projects to be funded by such proceeds.
