State Bank of India enters into a strategic alliance with SLCM Group for Collateral Management and Warehousing Services

New Delhi, 26^th July, 2019: Sohan Lal Commodity Management Pvt. Ltd. (SLCM), India’s leading Agri services solutions provider having operations across India & Myanmar, has entered into an strategic partnership  with India's largest bank, State Bank of India(SBI) for Collateral management and warehousing services. As part of this Collateral management agreement, SLCM will be the custodian of the commodities which bank has taken as a security against the loans, issued by it. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Mr. Ved Prakash, DGM, SBI and Mr. Ankur Jaipuria, Chief Business Officer, SLCM.

Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Ved Prakash, DGM, SBI said, “We have entered into an agreement for collateral management services with Sohan Lal Commodity Management Pvt. Ltd. (SLCM) a company known for providing modern scientific warehousing and commodity testing services .This agreement with SLCM underscores the importance of agribusiness and agri infrastructure for SBI. As part of the agreement, SLCM will manage the quantity & quality of the collateral which will help in   mitigating the risk for the bank.  I truly believe that this partnership with SLCM will further deliver value to all our stakeholders, and is in accordance with the Bank’s focus on Agri financing.”

Talking about the agreement with SBI, Mr. Sandeep Sabharwal, Group CEO, SLCM said," It is a matter of pride that country's largest Bank, SBI has posed faith in the best-in-class scientific warehousing services of SLCM.  We are the only company in the warehousing space which uses a proprietary technology called “AGRI REACH”, for which patent is pending. In a country like India where post harvest losses are pegged at 10%, our AGRI REACH   has cut the post harvest losses to 0.5% irrespective of infrastructure, crop or geographic location. (Accredited by FICCI in their Study).This agreement with  SBI will  further  consolidate our position as a market leader in  scientific warehousing with  demonstrated track record of preventing post harvest losses."

As part of the agreement, SLCM will manage the quantity & quality of the collateral and the commodities will be stored in licensed & non-licensed warehouses

SLCM has been recognized by various industry and trade bodies such as the World Bank, ASSOCHAM, Times Group, Indo Global SME chamber, Golden Peacock and CII amongst others. The Group prides itself as an Innovator in agri industry & has consistently demonstrated its capabilities in rolling out efficient products and services that empowers the agri ecosystem be it their process AGRI REACH (patent pending) which reduces post-harvest losses or Kissandhan (NBFC) which has changed the paradigm of agricultural financing to bring real “Financial Inclusion”. Moreover, to prove its scalability in international avenues the Group forayed into Myanmar in April 2014 and as on today SLCM Ltd. Myanmar is an independently running entity successfully curtailing  the enormous post-harvest losses ranging from 20-25% in that country.

About SLCM Group:

Sohan Lal Commodity Management Pvt. Ltd. (SLCM) is an ISO 9001:2015, ISO 22000:2005, ISO 33000, ISO 14001:2015 & OHSAS 18001:2007 certified Agri-Logistics Group. The company is equipped with technology to offer storage and protection services for the entire range of agri-commodities. SLCM has been handling about 938 agriculture commodities including Rice, Wheat, Maize, Mustard, Pulses, Cotton, Barley, Bajra, Castor Seeds, Spices, etc. globally. As on 30th June 2019, SLCM manages a technology enabled network of more than 4105 warehouses and 19 cold storages pan India spread over 66.81 Mn sq. ft. area and a throughput of more than 782.34 Million MT. The Group has also applied for patenting this scientific technology of storage under the aegis of "AGRI REACH". The efficacy of 'AGRI REACH' has been attested in a study conducted by industry body FICCI that found that storage losses could be reduced from 10 percent to a minimal 0.5 percent using AGRI REACH.

The Group also has a wholly owned NBFC in India christened as "Kissandhan" which has changed the paradigm of collateral financing by financing across diversified agri products whilst being agnostic to balance sheet of the borrower yet complying with the prudential norms of RBI.

In a short tenure, Kissandhan has already financed more than INR 2003.59 Cr. for multiple commodities pan India. It has impacted about 44964 farmers till 30^th June 2019.