Know the aspiring small finance bankers

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday picked up relatively unknown, but companies with strong rural connect to give in-principle approval for starting small finance banks.

Started in 1995 by Jaipur-based chartered account Sanjay Agarwal, the company initially gave loans for trucks and three-wheelers. In 2003, it tied up with HDFC to provide home loans in areas where the bank did not have a reach. It has raised funding from big names such as Motilal Oswal, IFC, Warburg Pincus and ChrysCapital.

Disha Microfin

Sameer Nanavati is Founder and CEO of Disha Microfin, an NBFC providing micro finance to lower income clients. Disha has operations in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. It has 108 branches and 1.6 lakh clients with the asset under management at ₹195 crore as on July 2015.   India Value Fund became an equity partner in October 2010. The fund, managed by India Value Fund Advisors undertook the role of an involved business partner and has been a key contributor to the growth of Disha from then onwards. Equitas Holdings

The microfinance company was founded by Chennai-based PN Vasudevan, who was earlier the Executive Vice-President and Head - Consumer Banking Group in Development Credit Bank Ltd. IFC is the lead stakeholder with 13 per cent interest. As on February 2015, it had a customer base of 2.5 million and operates in 11 States, with about 501 branches.

Based out of Jalandhar in Punjab where it operates, Capital Local Area Bank completed 15 years of operation in January this year with a total business of ₹2,600 crore spread across 39 branches with 18 in rural areas with over 3 lakh account holders.

Till 2013, the bank was operating in 3 districts — Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. In January 2013, the RBI approved expansion to two more districts of Ludhiana and Amritsar and plans to add 10 new branches this year. As on March 2015, the bank made a profit of ₹14 crore with a total income of ₹172 crore. Inder Kishan Sardana is the Chairman of the company.

Janalakshmi Financial Services is a Bengaluru-based microfinance institution servicing the urban poor. Its investors are the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Lok Capital and Bellwether Microfinance Fund. Ramesh Ramanathan is the Chairman and R Srinivasan is the MD and CEO.

In August, Janalakshmi Financial Services raised ₹150 crore comprised of three different strips of ₹50 crore with varying tenures, with a maximum tenure of four years. In FY15, the MFI logged 50 per cent growth in net profit in FY15 at ₹75 crore with a total income of ₹759 crore.

Founded by Samit Ghosh in 2005, Ujjivan Financial Services is a Bangalore-based MFI. It operates a network of 423 branches in 21 States and 3 Union Territories.

It recently raised ₹50 crore from United Trust of India (UTI) mutual fund through the issuance of secured and non-convertible debentures. In March, it had raised about ₹600 crore.

As of August 2015, Ujjivan reported total outstanding assets of ₹3,926 crore, a gross disbursal of ₹3,270-crore loans.

Utkarsh Micro Finance is headquartered in Varanasi and has operating presence in Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Its investors are Aavishkaar Goodwell, Commonwealth Development Corporation, International Finance Corporation, Lok Capital and Norwegian Microfinance Initiative.

Govind Singh is the founder, MD and CEO and has 27 years experience in the banking and financial sector.

As on end-March, its profit stood at ₹16 crore, doubling from ₹8 crore a year ago with a total revenue of ₹135 crore.

Started in 2008 by K Paul Thomas, Founder-Chairman and MD, ESAF Microfinance has its registered office in Chennai and corporate office in Thrissur.

According to its annual report of 2013-14, EASF has equity investments from Dia Vikas Capital (P) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Opportunity International, Australia, and Maanaveerya Holdings (P) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oiko Credit, Netherlands. In FY2015, the company earned a net profit of ₹22.50 crore. It has operations spread across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Central India.

 The Navi Mumbai based NBFC is engaged in providing loans to women from economically weaker sections who do not have meaningful access to traditional banking services. As on August 2015, it had 6 lakh customers, 164 branches across 7 states and gross loan portfolio of ₹689 crore

Guwahati-headquartered RGVN (North East) Microfinance, has its roots in Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi — the Society promoted by SM Palia, former Executive Director, IDBI, in the year 1990.

As on March 31, 2015, RGVN had a network of 104 branches in 5 North-Eastern Statescovering around 2.27 lakh borrowers with loan outstanding of ₹229 crore and on-time repayment of 99.87 per cent.

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