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Vikram Akula, once the poster boy of the microfinance industry in India and founder-chairman of SKS Microfinance, is seeking to make a comeback in the financial inclusion space.
Akula has acquired a 26 per cent stake in Vaya Finserv Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed sum. The Hyderabad-based start-up is likely to apply for a small-bank licence to the RBI. Vaya Finserv provides business correspondent services and acts as a link between banks and rural customers by taking banking services to the customers’ doorstep for a small fee.
Akula, who is currently in India, says financial inclusion is his passion.
If given a licence, Akula says he intends to take financial inclusion to the under-banked regions. After his stint with SKS Microfinance ended on a sour note, Akula has spent much of his time in New York. Akula’s three-year non-compete agreement with SKS ended this November.
After more than a decade at the helm, Akula exited SKS in November 2011 due to differences with the management. He ‘voluntarily' stepped down amidst controversies on the direction of the company, corporate governance issues, mounting bad loans, low recoveries and rising losses.
His bid to comeback to SKS Microfinance proved unsuccessful last year when a majority of shareholders opposed it. “I have been helping other social-entrepreneurs by mentoring them and holding workshops for them,” he says about the past three years in New York. If Vaya is granted a small-bank licence, Akula says he will play a mentoring and non-executive role in the company. He intends to stay on in New York, primarily because of family commitments.
Asked about the potential candidates to head the bank, Akula said, “For leading the small-bank, it will have to be one of the bankers coming out of the mainstream banking sector. We have identified a few.”
On the lessons from the SKS Microfinance experience, he says, “We want growth…we need growth but the lesson is to do it in a systematic and measured way.”
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