Utkarsh MF gets RBI nod to start operations as small finance bank

Utkarsh Micro Finance on Monday said it has received the final nod from the Reserve Bank of India to start operations as small finance bank.

The new bank is likely to start banking operations by early 2017, the micro financier said in a statement.

“We will continue to be committed to the mission of financial inclusion and offer wide range of banking products to the people,” the MFI’s MD and CEO Govind Singh said.

Utkarsh Micro finance is among the 10 entities which has received RBI’s in-principle approval to set up small finance banks.

The new SFB will be named as Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, it said.

The Varanasi headquartered MFI has operations in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi-NCR, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Currently, it is serving over 1.2 million clients with a portfolio of over Rs 1,809 crore.

Earlier this month, Ujjivan had received final license from the RBI for small finance bank and is also likely to commence banking operation by early 2017.

The other entities which received RBI’s nod for small finance bank includes Equitas Holdings, Au Financiers, Capital Local Area Bank, Disha Microfin, ESAF Microfinance, Janalakshmi Financial, RGVN Microfinance, Ujjivan Financial Services and Suryoday Micro Finance.

So far, Equitas and Capital Small Finance Bank has started operations.