State Bank of India (SBI) Release its 5th Sustainability Report

SBI is a Government-owned, Indian multinational, public sector banking and financial services company.

India’s largest bank system, State Bank of India (SBI) has released its Sustainability Report for the year 2019-20. This sustainability report, titled ‘Responsible Finance – Sustainable Growth’, comprehensively captures Bank’s vision of contributing to a sustainably growing economy and practicing responsible finance. This is the fifth consecutive report.

The Bank manages 22,141 branches, 58,555 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and employs over 2.49 lakh people as on 31st March 2020, and has responsibility of a customer base exceeding 44 crore. For the reporting period, the total income of the Bank stood at Rs 3.02 lakh crore, an increase of 8.19% over previous year.

“SBI is committed to supporting responsible economic growth and enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy. Through this report, the Bank demonstrates its continuous endeavour to create value for its stakeholders, and its performance across environmental, social, and governance aspects.” Sustainability Report said.

“The report details the Bank’s approach to sustainability, and includes information pertinent to strategy, targets and performance. SBI is currently the only public sector bank to publish a sustainability report in India.” the Bank said.

“The 2020 World Economic Forum at Davos was significant in a way that Climate Change became the dominating agenda for the gathering. It was quite evident that the concern on climate, which tangentially touched businesses in the past, has now become mainstream. Climate alarm has gradually translated into business risk, calling for a significant reshaping of finance through reallocation of capital. Responsible finance creating sustainability impact and ensuring better risk-adjusted returns to investors is destined to occupy the centre stage.” In the report said Alok Kumar Choudhary Deputy Managing Director (HR), Corporate Development Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer.

As India steadily progresses towards achieving its targeted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, SBI has aligned key initiatives with specific SDG targets. This report contains information relevant to the Bank’s material issues, identified through an inclusive stakeholder engagement process. The chapter titled ‘Stakeholder Engagement and Materiality Assessment’ highlights the process followed and the results of the analysis in a more comprehensive manner.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards: Core option. Further, sustainability disclosures continue to fulfil the requirements of the 10 principles outlined by the GRI standards, adopt the Integrated Reporting <IR> framework and adopt the National Voluntary Guidelines for Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business (NVG-SEE).

“It is imperative for SBI to leverage its reach to support responsible economic growth. In addition to providing access to capital and banking facilities, the Bank is incorporating best practices in the ESG domain to aid the transition to an inclusive, low-carbon economy. In this context, it’s my immense pleasure to present to you our 5th Sustainability Report, themed ‘Responsible Finance – Sustainable Growth”. said Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India

(Rusen Kumar is the founder and managing editor of India CSR. He regularly writes on Sustainability, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR.)

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