“We have been actively investing in startup-focused funds and financial market infrastructure through direct equity participation and schemes like Startup India, and banks in startup-intensive industries and business hubs,” SBI Managing Director Ravi Ranjan said while addressing UGRO Capital’s ‘India by MSME’ event in Mumbai.
Highlighting the role of startups, he said, “Coding the entrepreneurial spirit sweeping the new India, the startups are playing a crucial role in accelerating lending to MSMEs by driving innovation, promoting internet adoption and creating fundamental employment and population growth, with unicorns driving technology governance and facilitating economic expansion for MSMEs.” He further said that the bank has started a startup hub in several cities and unparalleled skills and digital advancements have helped ensure that startups are not funded through debt, equity and government services.
The bank is working on a hub-and-spoke model to serve peripheral areas through dedicated verticals to ensure that the bank consciously delivers on the promise of priority sector lending guidelines that connect startups under the practice of partnership, he added.
“Ensuring collaboration with startups and fintech companies remains a priority area for SBI as these three instruments provide agility and resilience while helping to tap the supply base effectively,” Ranjan said.
At the same time, he emphasized that “compliance with the guidelines for prudential standards of governance and regulation in India remains a zero compromise”.
Published on February 22, 2026
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