The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has listed its maiden Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) issue on the Social Stock Exchange platform of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) subscribing the full ₹4 crore — yaani ₹40 million — issue, ANI reported from the listing ceremony on Thursday, October 22.

Source: ANI via DevDiscourse

Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary rang the bell at the NSE to mark the listing, held under the theme 'Connecting Rural Talent to Global Opportunities'. A ZCZP instrument is a social-finance tool: subscribers put in money as a contribution towards a stated social outcome and receive neither interest nor principal back, with reporting on the outcome instead.

600 rural youth, jobs in Japan and Germany

The money will fund an overseas skilling and employment programme for 600 rural youth from Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities in Madhya Pradesh, implemented by NSDC in partnership with the Government of Madhya Pradesh, according to NABARD's statement on the listing. Participants will receive language training, domain-specific skill development, cultural orientation, certification and end-to-end support for overseas placement, including documentation and deployment, for jobs in Japan and Germany.

₹4 crZCZP issue, fully subscribed by NABARD
600rural OBC youth from Madhya Pradesh to be trained
2destination countries: Japan and Germany

NABARD described the model as blended finance — combining Social Stock Exchange funding, outcome-linked public financing and beneficiary participation — and said the programme is designed around verified outcomes such as actual overseas deployment and sustained employment, rather than training completion alone. NSDC International, the corporation's subsidiary, will deliver the training linked to the international placements.

'Invest in the people of India'

"The single most important long-gestation investment that all of us have to make is in the people of India," Chaudhary said at the ceremony, according to ANI. "What really differentiates us is our capacity for empathy and our connectedness to our roots. The Social Stock Exchange is nothing else but an effort to institutionalise that spirit of caring, giving, and empathy." He called on companies to use the exchange as a transparent route for corporate social responsibility spending and urged more funding for social projects.

NABARD Chairman Dr Shaji K.V. highlighted the role of blended-finance instruments in promoting rural development, ANI reported. The listing is being presented by both institutions as a template for funding skilling programmes through outcome-based social finance rather than conventional grants alone.