State Bank of India (SBI) and The European Investment Bank (EIB) have entered into a pact to jointly pump Euro 100 million in equity financing into Indian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) focused on climate change and sustainability.
An agreement got signed on the margins of the European Union-India leaders meeting in Portugal, where both the financial institutions agreed to back the initiative. The fund will enable Indian innovative and emerging companies to fund their growth through equity or quasi-equity instruments.
SBI already invests in a vehicle called Neev Funds for its impact investing objectives, and the two entities have created ‘Neev Fund II’ for taking ahead this partnership. This is one of the EIB’s first private equity investments in India.
SBI is the country’s largest lender and it offers a wide range of services in the Personal Banking, Agriculture/ Rural, NRI services, SME and Corporate Banking etc.