IFC extends $150 million credit line to SBI in first investment in an Indian state-owned bank

New Delhi: International Finance Corporation (IFC) has extended a $150 million line of credit to the country's largest bank State Bank of India, making its first investment in a state-owned bank in the country.

The global financial institution also executed a cross-currency swap, establishing SBI as IFC's first domestic swap counterparty in South Asia. In a statement, IFC said that the $150 million social loan will empower around 864,000 rural women across India's agricultural value chains by providing accessible agricultural financing.

"The transactions span both ends of IFC's engagement in India, mobilising rupee funding at scale and extending credit to financially underserved rural women to support inclusive growth and job creation," it said. The derivatives partnership expands IFC's ability to source Indian rupee-denominated funding for private sector investments, supporting long-term development financing in India, it noted.


"The swap line marks a key step in deepening IFC's local currency financing ecosystem in India and will help source long-term Indian rupee funding for private sector investments," it said, adding that this structure helps mitigate foreign exchange risk for borrowers, especially in high-impact sectors such as infrastructure, agribusiness and financial services, enabling greater investment certainty.

The statement noted that over the past three years, IFC has funded $3.7 billion through the US dollar-Indian rupee cross-currency swap market, and the partnership will further expand long-term local currency financing to support productivity, competitiveness, and job creation.

This partnership bridges the financing gap for women-led enterprises, enabling them to scale businesses, strengthen livelihoods, and generate rural employment, the statement noted, adding that the initiative aligns with the World Bank Group's AgriConnect program by expanding access to finance for women participating in agricultural value chains.