SBI partners with Adani Capital for co-lending to farmers

by Suman Gupta

• SBI signs agreement with Adani Capital to offer financing solutions to underserved agrarian population of the country

Mumbai December 2, 2021: Country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a Master Agreement with Adani Capital Private Ltd (Adani Capital), the NBFC arm of Adani Group for co-lending to farmers for purchase of tractor and farm implements, to increase efficiency in farm operations and productivity of crops.

With this partnership, SBI would be able to target farmer customers in the interior hinterland of the country looking for adoption of farm mechanization to enhance productivity of crops. SBI is actively looking at co-lending opportunities with multiple NBFCs for financing farm mechanization, warehouse receipt Finance, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) etc., for enhancing credit flow to double the farmers’ income.

Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI said, “We are pleased to associate with Adani Capital under the co-lending program. This partnership shall help SBI to expand customer base as well as connect with the underserved farming segment of the country and further contribute towards the growth of India’s farm economy. We will continue to work with more NBFCs in order to reach out to maximum customers in far flung areas and provide last mile banking services.”

Gaurav Gupta, MD & CEO, Adani Capital said, “Our aim is to make economical credit available to the micro-entrepreneurs of India. Our partnership with SBI is to target the unbanked/underserved Indian farmers. Through this partnership our aim is to contribute to farm mechanization and play a role in improving productivity and income of the farm segment.”

RBI had issued guidelines on co-lending scheme for banks and NBFCs for Priority Sector Lending to improve the flow of credit to unserved and underserved sectors of economy and to make funds available to borrowers at an affordable cost. The co-lending model aims to give the borrower the best interest rate and better reach.

About State Bank of India: State Bank of India is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers, and employees. It is also the largest mortgage lender in the country which has so far fulfilled the home buying dreams of 30 lakh Indian families. The home loan portfolio of the bank has crossed the milestone of Rs. 5 lakh crore. As on September 30, 2021, the bank has a deposit base of over Rs. 38 lakh crore with CASA ratio of 46.24% and advances of more than Rs. 27 lakh crore. SBI commands a market share of nearly 35% and about 28% in home loans and auto loans segment respectively. SBI has the largest network of 22,230 branches and 64,122 ATMs / CDMs in India with 70,786 BC outlets. The number of customers using internet banking and mobile banking stand at 94.4 million and close to 21 million respectively. The integrated digital and lifestyle platform – YONO SBI, has around 43 million registered users, which witnesses 12 million logins per day. Accelerating the digital agenda, in excess of 27,000 new digital savings bank accounts were opened per day in the quarter ended September 2021. In terms of digital lending, the bank disbursed personal loans worth Rs. 43,000 crore through the YONO mobile app till Q2 of FY22. SBI also has the highest number of followers on Facebook and Twitter amongst all banks worldwide.