SBI raises additional USD 1 billion untied loan with JBIC

by Suman Gupta

• SBI signed a loan agreement of USD 1 billion with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), taking the total facility to USD 2 billion, including USD 1 billion which was signed last year in October 2020

• The virtual signing ceremony event was held in the presence of Mr Dinesh Khara, Chairman (SBI) along with senior executives of SBI, Mr. Hayashi Nobumitsu, Deputy Governor (JBIC) and Mr. Ayukawa Kenichi, CEO & MD (Maruti Suzuki)

• The loan is in the form of refinance against the funding support provided to the manufacturers, suppliers and dealers of Japanese automobiles in India, whose business activities are recovering from reduced sales of automobiles due to the COVID-19

• The financing will assist in Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative

Mumbai – 31^st March, 2021: Country’s largest commercial bank, State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a loan agreement amounting to up to USD 1 billion with JBIC. SBI has signed a similar deal with JBIC in October 2020.

The loan is intended to promote smooth flow of funds for the whole range of business operations of Japanese automobile manufacturers in India.

JBIC is a policy-based financial institution, wholly owned by the Japanese government, with the objective of contributing to the sound development of Japan, the international economy and society.

On the occasion of signing the agreement, Mr Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI said “Covid 19 crisis has delivered a significant shock to global trade, disrupted production lines and depressed global demand. At a time when people are preferring personal mode of transport, this collaboration between SBI and JBIC will help the bank in extending loan facility to entire supply chain of Japanese automobile industry including suppliers, dealers and ultimately to the end users.”

Mr Ayukawa, MD & CEO, Maruti Suzuki said, “Maruti Suzuki is making efforts to balance between the environmental friendliness of our vehicles and our customer’s need. The special support for our environment friendly vehicles will accelerate Suzuki group’s initiative towards environmental care”.

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. The home loan portfolio of the bank has crossed the milestone of Rs. 5 lakh crore. The bank has auto loan book of Rs. 75,937 crore, as on December 31, 2020, the bank has a deposit base of over Rs. 35 lakh crore and advances of more than Rs. 26 lakh crore with CASA ratio of about 45%. SBI commands over 34% market share in home loans and around 33% in the auto loans segment. The Bank has largest network of more than 22,000 branches in India with an ATM / CDM network of nearly 58,000 and total BC outlets of over 71,000. The number of customers using internet banking and mobile banking stand at 85 million and 19 million respectively. The integrated digital and lifestyle platform by SBI – YONO has crossed 74 million downloads mark. YONO which has over 34.5 million registered users, witnesses 9 million logins per day. Accelerating the digital agenda, SBI has opened over 1.5 million accounts through YONO in the quarter ended December 2020 with nearly 91% of YONO eligible savings bank customers migrated on YONO. In terms of digital lending, bank disbursed pre-approved personal loan (PAPL) worth Rs. 5300 crore via YONO in the same quarter. YONO is also a global name having tasted its success in international markets as well. On social media platforms, SBI has the highest number of followers on Facebook and Twitter amongst all banks worldwide.