Aimed at kick-starting the infusion in fintech start-ups, State Bank of India (SBI), is mulling modifying its rules for investing in the sector, said Rajnish Kumar, SBI Chairman an event in the capital.
According to Kumar, the country’s largest lender which has earmarked Rs 50 crore to invest in fintech start-ups, will be modifying its rules in order to plough-in the money.
“We want to spend the money which we have earmarked. We are a public institution and investments in start-ups are generally considered very risky. We understand that traditional way of investing will not work,” Kumar said, adding that the largest Public lender, till now, joining the Start up bandwagon, has been able to make progress on two other aspects of the fintech engagements, including procuring goods from such startups and also playing an active role with the ecosystem through collaborations.
Kumar said the bank which has 430 million customers, has so far worked with over 150 startups on various cutting-edge technologies including chatbot, data analytics etc, is further planning to invest Rs 25 crore to launch a collaborative innovation centre in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai to promote latest futuristic technologies.
Further, the SBI has a board-approved policy to support the fintech sector, which has received the nod from supervisory bodies such as Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), Kumar added.
