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The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has extended a $150 million social loan to State Bank of India, its first-ever credit line to a public-sector bank, in a move that is expected to support nearly 8,64,000 rural women engaged in agriculture and allied activities across India. The transaction highlights a shift in IFC’s India strategy and comes alongside a separate local-currency financing agreement aimed at expanding long-term rupee funding for private-sector investments.

The social loan is expected to benefit around rural women across agricultural value chains, including crop cultivation, animal husbandry, fisheries and food processing. Nearly 90 per cent of the financing will flow through women-led Self-Help Groups (SHGs), while the remainder will support women entrepreneurs under SBI’s Svayam Siddha Scheme.

Alongside the social loan, IFC and SBI have signed a derivative partnership under an ISDA Master Agreement, making SBI IFC’s first domestic swap counterparty in India and South Asia. The swap arrangement is expected to strengthen IFC’s ability to source rupee-denominated funding and reduce foreign exchange risk for borrowers in sectors such as infrastructure, agribusiness and financial services.

Over the last three years, IFC has mobilised about ₹30,040 crore ($3.7 billion) through the dollar-rupee cross-currency swap market. The new partnership is expected to further expand access to long-term local currency financing, supporting productivity, competitiveness and job creation.

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