SBI to Launch Centre of Excellence for Project Financing in AI, E-Commerce, and Fintech

SBI to Launch Centre of Excellence for Project Financing in AI, E-Commerce & Fintech

The unit aims to expand and diversify SBI's existing project finance and structuring capabilities, which have traditionally focused on large infrastructure projects. The State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, is set to establish a dedicated centre of excellence (CoE) to manage project financing solutions for emerging industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), e-commerce, and fintech, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. According to reports, the new unit is expected to become operational within a year. It will be staffed by specialised professionals and will operate under the guidance of an external consultant. The CoE aims to expand and diversify SBI's existing project finance and structuring capabilities, which have traditionally focused on large infrastructure projects. This strategic initiative comes as lending to new-age industries and renewable energy sectors is playing an increasingly significant role in SBI's project financing portfolio. With India's growing emphasis on these sectors, they are becoming an integral part of the bank's lending strategy. SBI's move is expected to further strengthen its position in supporting innovative and sustainable development across key sectors of the economy. Meanwhile, in a separate development on Wednesday, SBI faced technical issues with its UPI payment services, causing inconvenience for users. The bank addressed the outage in a post on social media platform X, stating, "We are facing technical issues in UPI, due to which customers may face intermittent issues in availing UPI services...Customers may continue to use UPI lite services for uninterrupted services." While SBI takes bold steps toward enhancing its project financing capabilities for future industries, the temporary disruption in digital payment services highlights the ongoing challenges of managing technology at scale.

State Bank of India to set up AI, fintech project finance unit

State Bank of India is establishing a unit for project financing focused on new age industries like AI, e-commerce, and fintech. The initiative aims to diversify the bank's project finance efforts, targeting sectors benefitting from increased infrastructure spending under Prime Minister Modi's upgrades.State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, is setting up a unit to manage project financing solutions for "new age industries" such as artificial intelligence, e-commerce, and fintech, according to a senior executive. The public sector bank plans to complete the project within a year and will hire "specialized professionals" to staff it, said Ashwini Kumar Tewari, a managing director at the bank. It's also in the process of appointing an external consultant, Tewari said. The project will help diversify the work of the bank's project finance and structuring unit, which appraises, structures and funds large projects in infrastructure. Lending to so-call new age industries and renewable energy sectors increasingly make up a larger portion of SBI's project financing portfolios. Those sectors will benefit from a surge in spending as Prime Minister Narendra Modi upgrades India's infrastructure. In total, SBI funded 48 large projects through its project finance and structuring unit in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the bank's annual report. The unit, to be called "center of excellence for project financing", will also share insights with other financial institutions, Tewari said.

SBI to Launch Project Financing Unit for AI, Fintech, and E-Commerce: Report

The new unit will collaborate with other financial institutions to enhance expertise sharing. State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, is reportedly setting up a Center of Excellence unit to manage project financing solutions for "new-age industries" such as artificial intelligence (AI), e-commerce, and fintech, Bloomberg News reported, citing a senior executive. Also Read: India's AI Sector Could Surpass 2.3 Million Job Openings by 2027, Says Bain and Company The unit, expected to be operational within a year, will be staffed by specialised professionals and guided by an external consultant, the report quoted SBI Managing Director Ashwini Kumar Tewari as saying. According to the report, the project will help diversify the work of the bank's project finance and structuring unit, which appraises, structures and funds large projects in infrastructure. Lending to so-called new-age industries and renewable energy sectors is increasingly making up a larger portion of SBI's project financing portfolio, it added. With India's growing focus on new-age industries and renewable energy, these sectors are becoming a larger part of SBI's lending portfolio. Also Read: AI Is the Engine That Will Empower India's Double-Digit Growth: Akash Ambani SBI financed 48 major projects in FY 2024, as per its annual report. The new unit will also collaborate with other financial institutions, sharing expertise to strengthen the broader financial ecosystem. The unit, to be called the "Center of Excellence for Project Financing," will also share insights with other financial institutions, Tewari reportedly said.

SBI To Establish Project Finance Unit For AI, Ecommerce, Fintech SBI To Establish Project Finance Unit For AI, Ecommerce, Fintech

The bank is also planning to appoint an external consultant for the unit The State Bank of India (SBI) is setting up a new unit to provide project financing solutions for new-age industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), ecommerce, and fintech. The public sector bank is looking to hire "specialised professionals" for the new unit, which is expected to be set up in a year, Ashwini Kumar Tewari, managing director of corporate banking and subsidiaries at SBI, told Bloomberg. The unit, to be named the 'Centre of Excellence for Project Financing', will also offer insights to other financial institutions, Tewari said. The bank is also planning to appoint an external consultant for the same. The development comes at a time when rising internet penetration and improvement in access to smartphones over the last decade or so have spurred the growth of new-age tech sectors like ecommerce and fintech. India is currently home to over 820 Mn internet users and this number is expected to surge to 1.2 Bn by 2030. Besides, with generative AI taking the world by the storm, the adoption of the technology is also growing exponentially in the country. As a result, a number of companies, domestic as well as global, are setting up data centres in India. OpenAI is said to have begun discussions to set up data centres in India, while the likes of AWS and Blackstone have also committed investments of billions of dollars to establish data centres. The number of new-age tech companies and startups are also on the rise in the country. This was also reflected in the recent rejig of indices by NSE. As such, with the rising prominence of new-age tech sectors in the country's economy, they have emerged as a key focus area for financial institutions. SBI's decision to set up a new unit seems to be taken with an eye on making the most of these changes in the country's economy by providing dedicated and swift solutions to these new-age sectors.