India, Nov. 6 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday announced an expanded partnership, including a $150 million social loan to improve access to finance for around 8.64 lakh rural women engaged in agriculture and allied activities.

The partnership also marks the execution of the first cross-currency swap under a recently signed ISDA Master Agreement, making SBI IFC's first domestic swap counterparty in India and its first local swap counterparty in South Asia.

Under the social loan, up to 90 per cent of the financing will support women borrowers through Self-Help Groups (SHGs), while the remaining amount will fund women entrepreneurs graduating to individual Micro Enterprise Loans under S...