"I will also meet the finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday to pursue this," Kumaramangalam told PTI in an interview. SBI chairman M S Verma recently held discussions with the power minister when the later visited Mumbai.

The minister said he told SBI chief that he should contribute at least $ 300 million for the sector, where annual investment was to the extent of Rs 20,000 crore. Replying to a question Kumaramangalam said he had also asked the SBI to give Rs 1,000 crore credit from RIB proceeds to state-owned Power Finance Corporation (PFC). SBI chief had agreed to a meeting with PFC chairman Dr Uddesh Kohlion over this issue, he said. "This is not a major amount and I am confident that SBI and finance ministry will agree to this," the minister said. The minister said he wouldalso hold a meeting with the chief executives of the financial institutions later this month to review credit arrangements for the power sector.

Meanwhile, PFC sources said the corporation had written to SBI last month seeking credit from RIB proceeds. SBI has already provided about Rs 100 crore to the corporation from the RIB proceeds, the sources said adding PFC had requested the bank to provide the loan at about 12.75 per cent interest.

PFC, which exclusively caters for the funding requirements of the power sector, had deferred its Rs 600 crore maiden public bond issue in view of the adverse market conditions and had sought power ministry's help to secure additional Rs 1,000 crore from the RIB proceeds. The corporation, which intends to mobilise Rs 2,000 cr from the domestic and external markets in the current fiscal had requested SBI for the loan keeping in view the funds provided to IDFC and HDFC.