SBI to lend Rs20,000 Cr for 3G funding

State Bank of India (SBI) will be lending Rs 20,000 crore for telecom companies to pay for licences for the Third Generation(3G) mobile services. The rate of interest will be decided in one-to-one talks with the operators to whom SBI will be lending, said bank's chairman .The 3G funding would impact the liquidity of the bank in a big way. The SBI chairman said that as on March 31,2010,the bank had Rs40,000 crore liquidity,about 50% of which would go for 3G funding.On the business focus ,the chairman further said that the first focus of the bank would be in retail- home loans and auto loans in particular-followed by the corporate sector. The bank is expecting a 20% credit growth in 2010. (BL 23052010)