SBI Fuels India's Future: Rs 22L Cr for Sunrise Sectors

State Bank of India (SBI) has initiated a significant financial drive through its new Chakra platform, dedicated to funding eight pivotal sunrise sectors. These include renewable energy, advanced cell chemistry and battery storage, electric mobility, green hydrogen, semiconductors, decarbonisation, smart infrastructure, and data centres. The Chakra initiative is designed as a knowledge hub to facilitate financing for emerging, technology-driven, and sustainability-focused industries.

SBI aims to direct substantial capital flows into these crucial sectors, enhancing risk assessment capabilities within the financial ecosystem. The bank has joined forces with approximately two dozen institutions, such as the World Bank and Japanese lenders MUFG and SMBC, along with public sector banks and academic bodies. This collective effort is set to finance an estimated Rs 20 to Rs 22 lakh crore over the next five years.

SBI Chairman CS Setty highlighted the immense manufacturing potential of these sectors in India, acknowledging their unique assessment risks. He emphasized the need to build capacity in financial assessment and industry policy advocacy. Projections indicate that by 2030, these eight sunrise sectors could attract over Rs 100 lakh crore in capital investment, with the central government playing a facilitating role.

SBI is exploring innovative financing structures, potentially including risk capital, to address the evolving business models in these sunrise sectors. Setty noted that while large corporates hold significant cash balances, facilitating their investment in these sectors requires strategic structuring. SBI, already a major financier of infrastructure in India, intends to expand private and foreign lender participation on the Chakra platform as it matures.