The Executive Committee of the Central Board of State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday gave approval for raising up to ₹10,000 crore via Infrastructure Bonds through a public issue or private placement during FY23.

The amount includes a green shoe option of ₹5,000 crore, per the Bank’s regulatory filing.

As at September-end 2022, SBI’s loans to the infrastructure sector grew by 10.81 per cent year-on-year to stand at ₹3,67,889 crore. These loans accounted for 14.44 per cent of total domestic advances.

New infra projects

In its latest annual report, the bank noted that there has been a step up in investment in the infrastructure sector by the government along with various initiatives, sectoral reforms and incentives, such as the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), National Monetization Plan (NMP), Performance Linked Schemes (PLI), Disinvestment of Public Entities, Sustainable Lending, Gati Shakti, and National Single Window Systems (NSWS).

“This has resulted in an inflow of new projects, particularly in sectors such as City Gas Distribution, Road, Power Renewables, Metro Rail, Green Hydrogen, and Warehousing, among others,”per the report.

The bank emphasised that based on sustained liaising with Ministries, authorities, and specialised marketing endeavours, it is well poised to garner more business opportunities and maintain a leadership position in the infrastructure lending space.

According to the report, the Bank is closely monitoring all the projects under implementation and expects to tide over the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through the short to medium term.

The Bank has also set up an experienced team of ‘Structuring Specialists’ to support deal structuring for significant proposals across lending, bonds, international banking, and structured/mezzanine finance.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW