SBI Foundation

Choosing the right programme

• Women entrepreneurs: SBIF LEAP: Ghe Bharari, Mala Pankh Milale covers women entrepreneurs generally. SBIF Sashakti: EntrepreneNaari is for women in the food and beverage sector.
• Assistive technology: the SBIF Samarthya Catalyst Acceleration Programme.
• Anti-microbial resistance: the AMR start-up programme and the AMR Challenge.
• Incubation centres in underserved regions: the Incubating Incubators Initiative.
• Students: the SBI Asha Scholarship, the Smart India Hackathon and the five-day IDE bootcamp.

How applications work

• The SBI Asha Scholarship application is free and fully online.
• No application route is listed for most other programmes, so confirm current intakes before planning around one.

How selection works

• Ghe Bharari supports entrepreneurs who are selected.
• The Samarthya Catalyst programme selects start-ups for acceleration.

SBI Foundation is the CSR arm of State Bank of India. It is a Section 8 company, established by the bank in 2015, and it is based in Mumbai.

Programmes for entrepreneurs

Most of the Foundation's programmes are aimed at students, athletes, youth or women more broadly. A few are open to founders and start-ups.

SBIF LEAP: Ghe Bharari, Mala Pankh Milale supports women entrepreneurs with grants and enterprise development assistance. The Foundation reports that 39 entrepreneurs were selected.

SBIF Sashakti: EntrepreneNaari aims to empower 1,000 women entrepreneurs in the food and beverage sector.

The SBIF LEAP programme for anti-microbial resistance (AMR) start-ups provides financial assistance, technical mentorship, and access to networks and markets, and aims to support 12 start-ups. The Foundation's AMR Challenge, a call for innovations in anti-microbial resistance, was launched as the India AMR Grand Challenge 2023-24.

The SBIF Samarthya Catalyst Acceleration Programme, run with AssisTech Foundation, selected 11 assistive-technology start-ups for acceleration. Its support period ran from August 2025 to July 2026.

Incubators

The SBIF LEAP Incubating Incubators Initiative aims to strengthen at least eight incubation centres in underserved regions, including the Northeast, Jammu & Kashmir and Tier 2-3 cities. It works with incubators rather than founders directly.

Scholarships and youth programmes

The SBI Asha Scholarship gives awards to students from economically weaker families, with tracks from Class 9 to overseas study. Each track sets its own family income limit. Applying is free and fully online.

The SBIF Para Athlete Sports Scholarship is to be provided to 80 para-athletes from eight sports. SBIF LEAP: Skilling for Future aims to train 3,000 youth in IT and green jobs.

SBIF LEAP: Innovators for Bharat partnered with AICTE to launch the 8th Smart India Hackathon (SIH 2025) in Delhi on 8 December 2025. A five-day residential bootcamp run with AICTE aims to equip students with design thinking, business modelling, financial literacy and prototyping skills.

Scale

The Foundation's figures are its own and have not been independently verified. It reports that a STEM education programme in Bijapur, Kolar and Bengaluru Rural has reached 150 teachers and 6,500 students across 33 government schools. Its Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa initiative reports more than 200,000 women screened in Goa.

Locations

The head office is in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Reported programme activity covers Bijapur, Kolar and Bengaluru Rural, Goa, and SBI Bhawan, where a two-day Udhyami Haat exhibition in October 2025 included nine rural enterprises.

Who runs it

SBI Foundation is a Section 8 company set up by State Bank of India and describes itself as the bank's CSR arm.