MUMBAI, 22 June 2021: State Bank of India (SBI) explores opportunities to enter into partnerships with selected Agritechs to handle high volume and low-ticket loans in the Agribusiness optimally through a digital strategy.

India’s largest public-sector banking and financial services statutory body sees agricultural technology as a channel to bring in a new segment of customers which the bank could not access earlier, a channel to improve decision making, grow top-line and improve efficiency.

The bank's annual report cited that “The partnership will also serve as an opportunity to cut operational costs, credit costs, improve profitability and user experience as the digital transformation will no longer be optional but a necessity for structural change in the digital ecosystem.”

The bank wants to enter into partnerships with Agritechs with a differentiated business model that will help facilitate the transformation of the Agri supply chain to improve farm production opportunities for the farmers.

This will be done using digital tools such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, IoT (Internet of Things) and Machine Learning-powered capabilities.

During FY21, SBI disbursed INR 1,98,268 crore against the target of INR 1,74,468 crore.

“Agri gross value added expanded by 3.6 percent in FY2021 due to sufficient access to inputs, adequate and well-spread south-west and northeast monsoon rains, sufficient reservoir levels, and improved soil moisture,” the report added.

According to data on the sectoral deployment of bank credit for March 2021, credit growth to Agri and Allied activities accelerated to 12.3 percent in March 2021 (4.2 percent a year ago), the highest since April 2017.

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