SBI does balancing act between financing coal projects, appeasing investors

Lender needs to finance coal projects to electrify more Indian homes, as it works with investors like BlackRock Inc that are keen on renewables.

India’s biggest bank is caught between Larry Fink and Narendra Modi.
 

State Bank of India needs to finance coal projects to meet the Indian leader’s push to electrify more homes, yet it wants to back renewable projects to appease investors like BlackRock Inc. For now it’s doing a bit of both.

“Investors’ concerns are very important to us, we take them into consideration,” the lender’s head of corporate banking and global markets, Ashwani Bhatia, said in an interview. “But we also have commitments to the country. There are so many coal mines being developed in India because we need them