SBI ties up with Tata Group for development activity; launches rural fellowship

SBI chairman Ms Bhattacharya

INDIA'S leading public sector lender is now on a social drive. State Bank of India (SBI) has tied up with the Tata Group to fund groups that the Tata will partner to provide training and capacity building in four states. These states include Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
At the same time, the PSU bank has launched a rural fellowship programme for the youth who want to serve in the rural areas. The pact in this regard was inked between...
Ratan Tata, chairman, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and The Allied Trusts and Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman, SBI.
According to the pact, both SBI and Tata Group will work together for poverty alleviation and rural development in a sustainable way leveraging competencies of both the entities.
"A major problem in lending to the poor is lack of capacity building and linkages, which results in the poor remaining perennially indebted. Through the intervention of the Tata Trusts, this deficiency can be eliminated to a great extent for creating the desired impact," said Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman, State Bank of India.
According to the pact, SBI would provide working capital and term loans to partners promoted organizations of Tata Trusts. "It's a visionary initiative and meeting of the minds. It is a partnership between the Tata Trusts and SBI to make a lasting difference to the rural poor," said Ratan Tata on the occasion.
Meanwhile, the SBI has launched a one-year rural fellowship programme ‘SBI Youth for India (SBI YFI)’ for 2014 to draft the country’s youth to become change agents in the hinterland.
The fellowship programme is meant for outstanding young professionals and graduates, who seek to lead from the front for a better India. Those interested should submit their applications up to June 30. The fellows will work on projects with experienced NGOs in rural India and use skills to catalyse development at the grass root level. SBI YFI was launched in 2011 in partnership with three reputed NGOs: MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, BAIF Development Research Foundation and Seva Mandi. This is the for the second time that YFI has announced the fellowship. In the inaugural year, paid fellowship attracted wide range of aspirants from reputed institutes such as IITs and BITS-Pilani.