State Bank of India Launches $500M Social Loan for Women's Empowerment

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 10 March 2026

• State Bank of India has launched a USD 500 million syndicated social term loan focused on women's empowerment with a greenshoe option on International Women's Day.
• This is a significant milestone for SBI and the global ESG funding ecosystem, promoting gender equality.
• It also supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 for empowering women and girls.

State Bank of India declared issuing a USD 500 million syndicated social term loan facility with exclusive focus on women's empowerment and greenshoe option, on the occasion of International Women's Day.

As per SBI's communication, this syndicated transaction is a milestone in the history of SBI and globally the ESG funding ecosystem for such a noble cause like women empowerment. The financing is a step towards social impact and it also underlines SBI's willingness to work effectively towards gender closing and at the same time, hence it is a substantial step towards the UN's Sustainable Development Goal SDG 5, 'Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls'.

SBI Chairman C S Setty mentioned in the statement that this major social loan represents SBI's commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, highlighting women empowerment as the core issue.

The view of the bank is that real development is not just about economic growth, but it is about the efforts that go into creating a society in which women are empowered, enabled, and provided with opportunities to grow and succeed. It is of the view that real growth can only be achieved if women are actively involved in economic growth.

At the same time, the bank is aware that empowerment is not just about empowering women, but it is also about empowering other stakeholders in society in order to ensure that the larger society benefits.