The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday announced an expanded partnership, including a $150 million social loan to improve access to finance for around 8.64 lakh rural women engaged in agriculture and allied activities.
The partnership also marks the execution of the first cross-currency swap under a recently signed ISDA Master Agreement, making SBI IFC’s first domestic swap counterparty in India and its first local swap counterparty in South Asia.
Under the social loan, up to 90 per cent of the financing will support women borrowers through Self-Help Groups (SHGs), while the remaining amount will fund women entrepreneurs graduating to individual Micro Enterprise Loans under SBI’s Svayam Siddha Scheme, a joint statement said.
The financing will cover women engaged in crop cultivation, animal husbandry, fisheries and food processing, helping strengthen livelihoods and generate employment in rural areas. The loan marks IFC’s first line of credit to a public sector bank in India and its first investment in a state-owned bank in the country.
The currency swap partnership will enable IFC to mobilise long-term rupee funding for private sector investments while helping mitigate foreign exchange risks for borrowers, particularly in sectors such as infrastructure, agribusiness and financial services.