State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, has signed an agreement with Adani Capital Pvt Ltd (Adani Capital), the non-bank subsidiary of Adani Group, for co-lending to farmers.

With this partnership, SBI is expected to target farmer customers in the hinterlands, looking to adopt farm mechanisation.

The public-sector lender is actively looking at co-lending opportunities with multiple non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to boost credit flow to farmers.

Dinesh Khara, chairman, SBI said, “This partnership shall help SBI to expand customer base as well as connect with the underserved farming segment of the country and further contribute towards growth of India’s farm economy. We will continue to work with more NBFCs in order to reach out to maximum customers in far flung areas and provide last mile banking services.”

The Reserve Bank of India had issued guidelines on co-lending scheme for banks and NBFCs for priority sector lending to improve the flow of credit to unserved and underserved sectors of economy and to make funds available to borrowers at an affordable cost.

Mint