Create an ecosystem for banks to offer equity support to startups: CS Setty

SBI Chairman C S Setty on Tuesday pitched for creating an "ecosystem" where banks can offer "equity support" to startups in the country.

He said the government is also looking at a guarantee scheme where support for loans up to Rs 100 crore will be provided to the startups.

"We need to work out an ecosystem where the equity support from the banking system is also available to the startups," Setty said, speaking at the annual NTLF event organized by tech industry lobby grouping Nasscom here.

Banks are not allowed to offer equity support to startups at present, and can only offer debt support.

Setty said the country's largest lender has been active on the debt support front when it comes to startups, pointing out that it lends directly to such enterprises or through dedicated funds.

It also has seven dedicated branches across the country which offer dedicated banking support and loans to the start-up ecosystem, which is the third largest globally.

Setty said the fledgling fintechs of the country are not able to handle the traffic which is generated by SBI, pointing out that the "standards of operations" are not the same when the traffic grows.

SBI's engagement with the fintechs is one of the largest, he said, adding that it has 33 partnerships for the Yono app alone.

Meanwhile, Setty said SBI is "working very seriously" to improve its agri loan vertical, where it will be using satellite data and other structured and unstructured data sets to better serve the farmers.

The solution will also go into crop pattern data for a particular region in its analysis, he added.

Speaking to the technology industry leaders, Setty said SBI has been the first lender in the country to set up a resilience operations centre (ROC) along the lines of security ops centre, and hinted that the RBI is planning to make a ROC an industry-wide practice.

The bank has 22,700 branches and 75,000 franchisees taking the banking services across the country at present, Setty said, adding that 5-10 branches are opened every day.