THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 3, 2026

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest public sector lender, on Tuesday announced the launch of ‘CHAKRA’ — the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Sunrise Sectors, reinforcing its commitment to responsible, scalable financing for India’s next phase of economic growth. Envisioned as a knowledge-led and ecosystem-driven platform, CHAKRA is designed to enable funding for technology-driven, sustainability-focused sectors that are central to India’s ambition of becoming a developed nation by 2047.

The initiative comes at a time when sunrise sectors are expected to attract capital expenditure of nearly ₹100 lakh crore by 2030, underscoring the need for specialised financial expertise, robust risk assessment frameworks and innovative financing structures. Through CHAKRA, SBI aims to strengthen its institutional capabilities to channel capital efficiently into these capital-intensive segments while aligning with evolving business models and policy priorities.

The Centre of Excellence was inaugurated by M. Nagaraju, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, in the presence of Challa Sreenivasulu Setty, Chairman, State Bank of India, along with the Bank’s Managing Directors. Senior representatives from public sector and global banks, leading conglomerates, financial institutions, industry bodies and other key stakeholders from the broader financial ecosystem attended the launch.

Commending the initiative, Nagaraju said, “The CHAKRA Centre of Excellence is a commendable initiative by State Bank of India. The vision of the Centre to become a coordinated ecosystem platform covering knowledge-sharing, project appraisal, capacity building and evidence-based policy engagement will meaningfully accelerate India’s progress towards Viksit Bharat 2047.”

CHAKRA will focus on eight critical sunrise sectors — Renewable Energy, Advanced Cell Chemistry and Battery Storage, Electric Mobility, Green Hydrogen, Semiconductors, Decarbonisation, Smart Infrastructure and Data Centre Infrastructure — which are emerging as key engines of India’s future economic growth. SBI said the Centre will play a catalytic role in enabling the massive investments envisaged across these sectors over the coming years.

Highlighting the strategic intent behind the initiative, SBI Chairman Challa Sreenivasulu Setty said, “India’s growth over the coming decades will be anchored in innovation, sustainability and advanced manufacturing. With CHAKRA, SBI is strengthening its institutional capability to understand emerging sectors, design specialised financing solutions and partner with the ecosystem to enable projects that meaningfully contribute to the nation’s development journey.” He added that the Centre of Excellence reinforces SBI’s leadership in new-age technologies and climate finance, while enhancing India’s integration into global value chains and accelerating progress towards Viksit Bharat 2047.

According to the bank, CHAKRA will deliver tangible outcomes through white papers, sectoral reports, curated knowledge series, industry roundtables and policy dialogues, supporting informed decision-making for clients, investors and policymakers alike. The Centre will also facilitate structured engagement with development finance institutions, multilateral agencies, banks, NBFCs, corporates, start-ups, academia and policy think tanks.

Building on SBI’s earlier Centre of Excellence for MSMEs at the State Bank Academy, CHAKRA is expected to further deepen the bank’s role as a long-term financial partner for innovation-led enterprises, improving the flow of capital to sectors shaping India’s sustainable and technology-driven future.