State Bank of India floats scheme to raise funds for green projects

State Bank of India  (SBI), the country’s largest lender, on Friday floated a green rupee term-deposit scheme to raise money for financing environment-friendly projects.

Besides approaching retail customers, SBI will look at tapping family offices, entities that manage money for high net worth individuals, for garnering green money.

These would be medium- and long-term deposits with three maturity buckets -- 1,111 days, 1,777 days, and 2,222 days.

The deposit scheme is open to resident individuals, non-individuals, and non-resident Indian (NRI) customers. The current framework permits green deposits to be denominated in rupees only.

According to the SBI website, these deposits are available at 10 basis points below the card rate for retail deposits.

The scheme is available through the branch network, and it will soon be made available through digital channels such as YONO (you only need one) and internet banking services, SBI said in a statement.

Chairman Dinesh Khara told Business Standard this was part of the lender’s steps to diversify the asset class. This will be useful for family offices whose corpus would get used for funding sustainable projects. This being a new product, the task is to create awareness and there is no target for raising a specific amount.

SBI strives to fulfil the ambitious goal of the Government of India of making “our nation” net carbon zero by 2070, fostering a greener and environmentally responsible financial future for all, Khara said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a framework for green deposits raised by regulated entities (REs) on or after June 1, 2023. REs cannot finance green activities/projects first and raise green deposits thereafter. They have to disclose the amount of green deposits raised during the year and use of such funds in accordance with RBI norms.

REs can engage with any appropriate and reputed domestic/international agency for an external review of the financing framework.

As of September 2023, SBI had a deposit base of over Rs 46.89 trillion with a CASA (current accounts savings accounts) ratio of 41.88 per cent and advances of more than Rs 34.11 trillion.