Equitas Small Finance Bank (erstwhile Equitas Microfinance Ltd) is a small finance bank founded in 2016 as a

microfinance Microfinance consists of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses (SMEs) who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; saving ...

lender. The Bank has its headquarters in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, and is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Equitas Holdings Ltd.

History

After receiving license from the

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

(RBI) on 30 June 2016, Equitas Small Finance bank began banking on 5 September 2016. With effect from 4 February 2017, Equitas became a scheduled bank. However, the company failed to meet the RBI's mandate of listing within three years of starting operations. A review from the

Securities and Exchange Board of India The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the Regulatory agency, regulatory body for securities and commodity market in India under the administrative domain of Ministry of Finance (India), Ministry of Finance within the Government ...

and RBI is awaited.

Operations

The bank planned to build a network of 412 branches located in 11

Indian states India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

by the end of fiscal year 2016-17. However, for rendering technology oriented services, 83% of transactions occurring online as of July 2017. This includes the bank providing an RFID sticker to pay road tolls automatically, with settlements occurring digitally. On 1 March 2018, the bank was penalized ₹1 million (US$ thousand) by the Reserve Bank of India for rolling out investment, pension, and insurance services without obtaining prior approval. The bank became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) in October 2020. In 2021, Equitas Small Finance Bank partnered with the

neobank A neobank is a type of direct bank that operates exclusively using online banking without traditional physical branches. They challenge traditional banks. In contrast to direct banks, in many cases, neobanks do not have their own banking license ...

ing company Niyo to launch a mobile banking platform called NiyoX. On 23 November 2021, the bank announced its partnership with

HDFC Bank HDFC Bank Limited is an Indian banking and financial services company, headquartered in Mumbai. It is India's largest private sector bank by assets and market capitalisation. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has identified the HDFC Bank, Stat ...

, for a co-branded credit card. In 2021, the boards of both Equitas Small Finance Bank and its holding company, Equitas Holding Company, approved a

reverse merger A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...

between the two companies. The merger was completed in March 2023.

Philanthropy

Equitas Microfinance Ltd established Equitas Development Initiatives Trust (EDIT) in 2008 to provide

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

. In 2018, the bank committed 5% of profits to EDIT. EDIT established Equitas Gurukul Matriculation Schools in 2010. By 2017, the schools were employing 400 people, and educating 5,700 students, primarily from backgrounds that offered limited opportunities. EDIT also has a programme called Equitas Bird's Nest that seeks to help impoverished

pavement dwellers Pavement dwellers refers to informal housing built on the footpaths/pavements of city streets. The structures use the walls or fences which separate properties from the pavement and street outside. Materials include cloth, corrugated iron, cardbo ...

. In March 2018, EDIT celebrated the milestone of improving the quality of life for 1,300 families in

through this programme.

References

External links

* Small finance banks Financial services companies based in Chennai Banks established in 2007 Indian companies established in 2007 Private sector banks in India 2007 establishments in Tamil Nadu Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange {{India-company-stub

History

Operations

Philanthropy

See also

References

External links