A report by PAX, a Dutch campaigning organization, last week listed the government-owned bank as one of 158 lenders – including JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, Bank of America and Credit Suisse – that violated an international ban for investing in cluster bomb firms.
India’s top lender by assets was the only the Indian company on the list. The SBI(State Bank of India) said it provided credit to U.S. firm Orbital ATK Inc as part of a syndicated deal with other banks but added there was no ban in India on financing such firms.
A cluster munition, or cluster bomb, explodes in the air and scatters smaller “bomblets” over a huge area that detonate when stepped on or picked up.
They leave behind large numbers of unexploded ordnance which can kill or maim civilians long after a war has ended, and have been used recently in Yemen, Sudan, Ukraine, Libya and Syria.
The weapons are banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has been signed by 119 states and came into force in 2010.
PAX said the lenders, which include banks, pension funds and insurance companies, had invested over $28 billion in seven cluster bomb companies from June 2012 and April 2016, adding that such weapons were banned under international law.
The majority of firms named by PAX, however, are from countries which are not party to the convention, including the United States, China, South Korea and India.
Only some 20 firms named in the “Hall of Shame” are from countries which are party to the convention – Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and Britain.
PAX said the SBI had invested about $87 million in Orbital ATK – a Virginia-headquartered firm which makes space and rocket systems, tactical missiles, defence electronics and medium- and large- caliber ammunition – since June 2012.
The SBI did not provide any details of the amounts involved with Orbital ATK Inc, but said the firm met all compliance procedures laid out by the syndicate of lenders.
The syndicated deal was arranged for Orbital ATK Inc. by major global banks viz. Wells Fargo Securities LLC, BoA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup J.P. Morgan, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey among others,” said the SBI statement.
— source in.reuters.com
Thats why they want to merge with the associated banks. so that they can funnel more money to international war market.
Say NO to SBI merger.
From this its clear why there are wars. War is a very profitable business.
SBI End killing.