Burdened with liabilities, the Mumbai civic body is turning towards bonds to make money (File photo)With liabilities of Rs 2.34 crore, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has floated an expression of interest (EoI) to appoint a debenture trustee to oversee the civic body’s proposed green municipal bonds issue, aimed at raising funds.A debenture trustee is an independent financial intermediary appointed by a company issuing debentures or bonds to protect and represent the interests of the investors. Municipal bonds are debt securities issued by municipal corporations to raise capital for funding key public infrastructure projects.The civic body’s move comes at a time when it is reeling under a liability of Rs 2.34 lakh crore owing to the large-scale infrastructure projects it took up. The size of the infrastructure projects is two and a half times more than BMC’s annual 2026-27 budget.The Mumbai civic body had also recorded a Rs 3,544 crore loss in its financial reserves this year.“We have finalised an agency for studying our credit rating, and the banks through which bonds will be issued have also been finalised. This new agency will manage the entire process of bindi issuance as well as managing the investors’ money and providing liquidity security for a period of 15 years,” an odficial said.According to the civic authorities, the BMC intends to generate revenue between Rs 5000-Rs 10,000 crore through green bonds.Some other projects that will be funded through these bonds include BMC’s upcoming wastewater treatment facilities at Dharavi, Versova, Bhandup, Ghatkopar, Bandra and Malad, as well as the upcoming desalination plants, alongside two water tunnel projects, and the proposed Gargai dam project.Story continues below this adDuring the Union Budget 2026-27, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a Rs 100 crore incentive for a single municipal bond issuance of Rs 1000 crore.In April, the BMC had appointed a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered agency for analysing BMC’s credit rating – an important step towards initiating the process of future borrowing of money through markets.