State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest commercial bank has signed a Joint Venture pact with Macquarie Group and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Under the arrangement, both foreign partners will help the lender in the set up and management of an Infrastructure Private Equity Fund for investing in Indian Infrastructure projects and Companies. 

However, the fund will be operational on receipt of requisite regulatory approvals. The JV agreement is based on the earlier MOU signed on April 16, 2008. 
According to a market analyst, SBI’s decision to join hands with Macquire is due to lack of expertise in this new business segment. 

Macquarie is a global leader in the infrastructure finance sector with 116 infrastructure assets under management across 25 countries. While, IFC provides finance and advice for private sector ventures and projects in developing countries in partnership with private investors and, through its advisory work.

After the move of public sector lender, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are two other banks, which are also looking at launching similar infrastructure funds in the market.