To increase green and sustainable financing, lenders are seeking better terms, such as a relaxation of reserve requirements and a revision of priority-sector lending (PSL) standards.
It’s time to provide green finance with incentives. At a conference on financial inclusion hosted by the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC), S. Rana, deputy managing director (small and medium enterprises), State Bank of India (SBI), stated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved up to Rs. 30 crore for green energy projects like wind and solar as PSL.
When launching the green-deposit scheme, the nation’s largest lender, SBI, asked the RBI for a reduced cash reserve ratio (CRR) on green deposits raised from customers in February 2024.
There is no exemption for green deposits from the requirement that banks maintain a CRR of 4.5% on deposits. In order to keep the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), they must also invest 18% of net demand and time liabilities in government bonds.
As Chairman Dinesh Khara stated in February, SBI’s other proposal was to incorporate CRR reduction into the overall policy for all banks. According to the RBI’s Report on Currency and Finance (RCF) FY23, India will need an additional annual investment of at least 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for green financing till 2030.
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