National Stock Exchange of India’s Social Stock Exchange (NSE SSE) segment scripted a historic moment on 13th December 2023 with the celebration of Country’s First Ever Listing by SGBS Unnati Foundation. The event, held at NSE’s Headquarter located at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Mumbai, was attended by an esteemed gathering of dignitaries, NPOs, Regulators and media houses.
The First Listing witnessed fund mobilization of Approx. INR 1.8 Cr, which will enable SGBS Unnati Foundation to impart training to approx. 10,000 graduating youths in their final years from government colleges located across various states, such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
Shri. Ashwani Bhatia, Whole Time Member, SEBI said “This is the momentous day for our country as we witness the launch of listings on a new platform that will enable Social Enterprises including Non-profit Organisations to access capital and raise funds for a noble cause. Social stock exchange or SSE is a visionary initiative of the Government of India, that was presented in the budget of 2019 to create an ecosystem that foster social innovation, inclusion, and impact. SSE as envisaged in India does not have any parallel across any jurisdiction across the world and aims to provide a transparent and credible mechanism for investors to identify, evaluate and support social ventures that are creating positive change in our society.”
Dr. R. Balasubramaniam – Chairman, Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee, SEBI said “The historicity of today’s event is truly coming from the space of working at the grass roots with communities operating under the distress of inconsistent, inadequate funding to ensure social change happens. It is a moment of real pride and honour to be participating with the hope that this will change the social fabric of this country itself. It is all our collective responsibility to make sure that the SSE of India becomes a global benchmark” He also mentioned that capacity building is not only required for the NPOs, but also for the regulators and exchanges. They need to equally understand the social sector.
Shri Ashish Kumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of NSE said “NSE listed companies have created social impact in the form of wealth creation, job creation and overall economic growth through common person’s participation in the markets for the last three decades. With the listing on Social Stock Exchange, the impact is going to increase manifold. This framework offers a host of advantages such as Transparency, Trust, Efficiency, Cost Savings, Discoverability, Impact Measurement and Outcome Based Philanthropy. By aligning the dual goals of corporate success and societal impact, SSE creates a space where philanthropists, impact investors, donors, and NPOs converge – each contributing to a shared vision of a more equitable and sustainable future.” He also gave a special mention to SEBI that played a pivotal role in launching the Social Stock Exchange framework in India.
On this occasion, Shri Ajit Kesari – Additional Chief Secretary Finance, Government of Madhya Pradesh talked about the “Social Impact Bond initiative of the Government of Madhya Pradesh through outcome-based funding mechanism under Social Stock Exchange framework. Madhya Pradesh government has been pioneer in adopting new and innovative mechanisms for service delivery backed by the research and diligence. We have identified certain projects across healthcare and livelihood sectors for implementation of social impact bonds, and defined outcome metrics in simple and measurable way. The State Government can offer large-scale enhancement opportunities to SSE registered NPOs through this mechanism.”
Shri Amit Chandra, Co-Founder A.T.E Chandra Foundation and Chairperson, Bain Capital India, a member of the SSE committee said that “Ordinary Indians are capable of solving problems of their brothers and sisters and therefore the social stock exchange is a great enabling idea with potential to thrive in the coming future. Every Social Stock exchange in the world has failed before this one, over a decade, has the potential to succeed. With that there will be hundreds, possibly thousands of listings which will democratise the raising of capital for Indian social profit organisations”.
Currently, there are 39 registered Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) on NSE SSE Platform and amongst these, several NPOs have already initiated their fund-raising process across the developmental areas such as education, skilling, agriculture, and poverty alleviation of tribal farmers. Moving onwards, many other NPOs are intending to raise fund through SSE platform.