SBI announces partnership with PayPal

State Bank of India, the country's largest lender and PayPal, the world's leading open digital payments company, have entered into a strategic partnership to promote cross border trade and facilitate payments for SBI and PayPal users, both in India and abroad.

The partnership will enable SBI debit cardholders to use PayPal when buying products from overseas websites and allow SBI's Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers to gain access to PayPal's secure payment solutions, SBI said in a release.

''We would also collaborate on providing innovative financial solutions to the merchants who are using PayPal services,'' it added.

The announcement reiterates the importance of India as a strategic market for PayPal. In addition to having a strong engineering workforce based out of India, PayPal also has a very robust and growing cross-border business in the country. The partnership will help PayPal work closely with SBI to make it easy for Indian exporters and consumers gain access to a global audience. One of the key aspects of the partnership is the impetus that will be provided to eGovernance projects of the Government of India, the release said.

''SBI has been bringing value to its customers by providing them innovative inancial solutions. SBI is very pleased to have this tie-up as it provides a perfect opportunity to both of us to collaborate and offer a wide gamut of customised financial solutions to merchants across the board. This would bring new opportunities for our SME customer base,'' B Sriram, managing director of SBI, said.

Speaking at the event, Vikram Narayan, managing director and country manager (India), PayPal, said, ''It is an honour for PayPal to partner with the State Bank of India (SBI), which is India's largest bank. We foresee exciting times ahead as the economy is poised to pick up and support Indian citizens and, businesses to evolve through global transactions. We understand the government's focus on the MSME and believe PayPal has a strong role to play in the 'Make in India' initiative. Collaborating with us gives SBI's customers global access to businesses and consumers alike.''