Mumbai, Dec 2: Country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a Master Agreement with Adani Capital Private Ltd (Adani Capital), the NBFC arm of Adani Group for co-lending to farmers for purchase of tractor and farm implements, to increase efficiency in farm operations and productivity of crops.

With this partnership, SBI would be able to target farmer customers in the interior hinterland of the country looking for adoption of farm mechanization to enhance productivity of crops. SBI is actively looking at co-lending opportunities with multiple NBFCs for financing farm mechanization, warehouse receipt Finance, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) etc., for enhancing credit flow to double the farmers’ income.

Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI said “We are pleased to associate with Adani Capital under the co-lending program. 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 the 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.”

Gaurav Gupta, MD & CEO, Adani Capital said, “Our aim is to make economical credit available to the micro-entrepreneurs of India. Our partnership with SBI is to target the unbanked/underserved Indian farmers. Through this partnership our aim is to contribute to farm mechanization and play a role in improving productivity and income of the farm segment.”

RBI 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. The co-lending model aims to give the borrower the best interest rate and better reach.