Mumbai, June 23 -- Standard Chartered Bank is scouting for partners to explore green lending to small businesses in India, having started a similar pilot project in Singapore, a senior official said.

Xie Wen, global head of SME (small and medium enterprise) banking at the British bank said in an interview that the lender has green deposits and structured products, and is contemplating starting green financing products as well. This, she said, requires a partner that can help them track the usage of such green loans as well as the carbon footprint.

"For ESG, there are a few areas you can look at and you either track the purpose. (Whether) every loan is going to environmental (initiatives or not). That tracking of the purpose is important...