In a move aimed at supporting India’s long-term economic shift, State Bank of India (SBI) has unveiled a dedicated centre to focus on financing emerging industries that are expected to shape the country’s future growth. The initiative reflects the scale of capital required as India transitions toward technology-led and sustainable development.
On Saturday, the country’s largest lender launched CHAKRA, a Centre of Excellence created to support financing for sunrise sectors. SBI estimates that these sectors could attract combined investments of nearly Rs 100 trillion, including debt and equity, over the next 5 years.
The identified sectors include renewable energy, advanced cell chemistry and battery storage, semiconductors, decarbonisation, smart infrastructure, and data centre infrastructure.
“The debt capital required will probably be lower because these structures cannot be funded by debt capital alone,” said C S Setty, chairman, SBI. He added that the bank sees a lendable opportunity of around Rs 20–22 trillion in these sectors over the next 5 years.
Setty said SBI is also engaged in policy discussions related to financing new-age sectors. “We are also part of the policy-making process in terms of financing these sectors, particularly the new risks associated with them, the emerging technologies, and how we build patient capital structures — not necessarily only through loans. This could involve mezzanine financing or bringing in other capital structures,” he said.
To strengthen collaboration, SBI has signed memoranda of understanding with 21 financial institutions. Under these agreements, project finance teams from partner institutions will work alongside SBI teams based at CHAKRA, supporting co-financing and skill development.
Among international lenders, Japanese banks such as SMBC and MUFG have joined the initiative. Domestic state-owned institutions including PFC, REC, NaBFID, and others are also part of the partnership. Setty said SBI is in discussions with European and American banks for additional tie-ups.
“Japanese banks have been focusing on Indian infrastructure for a long time, so we felt they understand the Indian market, Indian infrastructure, and Indian sunrise sectors better,” he said.
Setty noted that funding for these sectors cannot rely only on deposit-based lending. “Today, we are able to build the project financing portfolio because we have very sticky deposits,” he said, adding that as household savings become more financialised, other institutions must also step in. “To enable this, we have to provide confidence to these investors.”
SBI said CHAKRA will produce white papers, sector reports, knowledge series, industry roundtables, and policy dialogues. The centre will also work closely with development finance institutions, multilateral agencies, banks, NBFCs, corporates, start-ups, academia, and policy think tanks.
Through CHAKRA, SBI aims to strengthen capabilities, back innovation-driven enterprises, and improve capital flow into sectors shaping India’s sustainable and technology-focused future. The initiative builds on SBI’s earlier Centre of Excellence for MSMEs at the State Bank Academy.
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