New Delhi, Feb. 13 -- International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, has invested Rs.860 crore ($98.35 million) in India's first sustainability-linked bond (SLB) issue in the highways sector.

Issued by Cube Highways Trust (Cube InvIT), one of India's largest road sector-focussed infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), sustainability-linked bond is a debt instrument whose financial terms are linked to the issuer's pre-defined sustainability or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.

This SLB-the first by a road InvIT in India-will fund the acquisition of NAM Expressway Limited (NAM), a strategic highway connecting Chennai and Hyderabad, and support Cube Highways Trust's long-term corporat...