Accessing the Social Stock Exchange could be part of a broader strategy to link social welfare objectives with market-based funds, the Minister said

Minister for Industries and IT D. Sridhar Babu with members of the leadership team of Malabar Group in Hyderabad on Thursday. | Photo Credit: Arrangement

Minister for IT and Industries D. Sridhar Babu on Thursday sought to highlight the option of tapping into the Social Stock Exchange to fund welfare schemes of the government.

Addressing a conference on fundraising through Social Stock Exchange, the Minister said it has become important to explore alternative ways of raising funds amid the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limits set by the Reserve Bank of India. Accessing the Social Stock Exchange, designed by capital markets regulator SEBI, could be part of a broader strategy to link social welfare objectives with market-based funds, he said.

In a release, the Minister’s office said he was chairing a high-level review at the Secretariat here on the plan to invite investment from large industrial and commercial companies subject to SEBI and Reserve Bank norms for raising funds. Representatives of National Stock Exchange (NSE), senior officials of the government and others participated.