SBI Ventures to launch ₹2,000 crore fund for climate-tech investments

SBI Ventures, an alternative asset management firm of the State Bank of India (SBI), plans to launch a Rs 2,000 crore fund in the first quarter of the next calendar year. The fund, called the SVL Climate Tech Fund, is the firm’s third climate-focused fund aiming to back climate technologies and AI-led green innovation startups.

 

Speaking at the second edition of the IVCA Green Returns Summit on Monday, Prem Prabhakar, managing director and chief executive officer of SBI Ventures, said the firm will invest in growth equity in tech and innovation-driven businesses in the climate, environment and sustainability space.

 

“We are poised at the next phase of research, a phase where climate and sustainability will increasingly play a major role. To this end, we will be launching our third climate-focused fund in the new year. We will invest in start-ups and early growth businesses, thereby enabling scaling up climate finance, unlocking green growth and new financing opportunities,” Prabhakar noted. He added that the bank has set a target to achieve a 7.5 per cent green portfolio in domestic gross advances by 2030, with a parallel roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality in its internal operations by 2030.

 

Through the new fund, SBI Ventures plans to make direct investments into companies that are in early or growth stages. It is targeting sectors including electric mobility, battery tech, blue economy, disaster resilience, energy efficiency and green hydrogen, among others.

 

The upcoming fund builds on the firm’s last two climate funds, which were worth Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore, respectively. Prabhakar said the firm is in the final stages of deploying from the second fund, while the deployment from the first fund is complete. The first fund was launched in 2015 and supported 10 companies.

 

Prabhakar also pointed to the estimated requirement of $170 billion annually to meet India’s climate goals, three times the current flow of funds. The largest financing deficits, he emphasised, are in adaptation and resilience sectors such as water security, climate-smart agriculture and disaster-proof infrastructure. To resolve these gaps, he called for a multi-layered climate financing model that blends equity, concessional capital, philanthropic risk-taking and innovative structures such as climate resilience bonds and carbon markets.

 

According to data from Tracxn, climate funding in India stood at $2.97 billion (360 rounds) in 2023. It dwindled to $2.18 billion (352 rounds) in 2024, and in 2025, to date, it stands at $2.1 billion (176 rounds).