According to a senior executive at State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, a unit will be established to manage project financing solutions for "new age industries" such as artificial intelligence, e-commerce, and fintech.
The public sector bank intends to complete the project within a year and will hire "specialised professionals" to staff it, according to Ashwini Kumar Tewari, the bank's managing director. Tewari also stated that they are in the process of hiring an external consultant.
The project will help to diversify the work of the bank's project finance and structuring unit, which appraises, structures, and finances large infrastructure projects. Lending to so-called new age industries and renewable energy sectors is taking up a larger share of SBI's project financing portfolio.
These industries will benefit from an increase in spending as Prime Minister Narendra Modi improves India's infrastructure. SBI funded 48 large projects through its project finance and structuring unit in the fiscal year 2024, according to the bank's annual report.
The unit, dubbed the "center of excellence for project financing," will also share information with other financial institutions, according to Tewari.
