RBL Bank, formerly known as Ratnakar Bank Limited, is an Indian private sector bank founded in 1943 and headquartered in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. It offers services across five verticals: corporate banking, commercial banking, branch banking and retail liabilities, retail assets, and treasury and financial markets operations.

History

On 6 August 1943, Ratnakar Bank was founded as a regional bank in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

with two branches in

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

and

Sangli Sangli (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Sāṁgalī''; ) is a metropolitan town and the headquarters of Sangli District in Maharashtra, in south-western India. It has earned the nickname "Turmeric City of India" for being the hub of the Asia's largest produ ...

by Babgonda Bhujgonda Patil from Sangli and Gangappa Siddappa Chougule from Kolhapur. It mainly served

small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

(SMEs) and business merchants in the Kolhapur-Sangli belt. The bank was incorporated in Kolhapur district on 14 June 1943 as Ratnakar Bank Limited. In 1959, the bank was categorized as a

scheduled commercial bank Scheduled Banks in India refer to those banks which have been included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in turn includes only those banks in this Schedule which satisfy all the criteria laid ...

as per the

Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 is the legislative act under which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was formed. This act along with the Companies Act, which was amended in 1936, were meant to provide a framework for the supervision of banking fir ...

. During this decade, it was referred to as an NH4 Bank. In 1970, it received a banking 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). In July 2010, Vishwavir Ahuja became managing director and CEO of the bank. In August 2014, the name of the bank was changed to RBL Bank Limited. On 12 June 2022, R Subramaniakumar was appointed as the Managing Director and CEO of the bank. RBL Bank announced integration of

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

and

National Common Mobility Card National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) is an open-loop, inter-operable transport card conceived by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘One Nation, One Card' vision. It was launc ...

capabilities with

RuPay RuPay (portmanteau of Rupee and Payment) is an Indian multinational financial services and payment service system, conceived and owned by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It was launched in 2012, to fulfil the Reserve Bank ...

credit cards on 1 August 2024.

Operations

As of March 2024, it had a network of 545 branches and 395 ATMs across 28 states and union territories. It has 12,473 employees. The bank also has a network of 1,272 business correspondent branches, of which 952 are managed by RBL Finserve Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank. In 2016, the bank ran a financial literacy programme called Saksham in collaboration with the

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

to provide education to 25,000 individuals and 300 villages in four districts of Madhya Pradesh. Another Saksham programme was run in Ahmedabad in 2013. In 2018, RBL Bank partnered with MoneyTap to launch India's first personal credit line-based app. In June of the same year, the company announced that it had raised its stake in microlender Swadhaar FinServe to 100 per cent.

Funding

The bank has raised Rs. 8,600 crore of equity capital and Rs. 1500 crore of Basel III-compliant Tier II debt from 2010 to date. The bank counts Barings Private Equity Asia, British International Investment (formerly CDC Group), Multiples Alternate Asset Management, the Asian Development Bank, HDFC Ltd., ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, and Gaja Capital, among others, as its shareholders. Throughout the 2010s, RBL Bank reportedly raised a total of INR 4,000 crore from investors. It raised INR 700 crore in 2011, INR 376 crore in 2013, INR 328 crore in 2014 and INR 488 crore in 2016. In July 2017, RBL Bank received board approval to raise an additional INR 1680 crore. In December 2019, the company announced that it had raised INR 675 crore through a preferential issue. Investors such as East Bridge Capital Master Fund and WF Asian Reconnaissance Fund participated. In August 2020, the company announced that it had raised INR 1,566 crore through a preferential issue. It was led by

Baring Private Equity Asia Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) was an Asian investment firm headquartered in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1997 as an affiliate of Barings Bank before becoming an independent firm in 2000. In 2022, it was acquired by EQT AB to act as its Asia ...

, while other investors included ICICI Prudential Life, CDC Group and local private equity company Gaja Capital.

Awards and recognition

*Best Bank for Digital solutions - Asiamoney Best Bank Awards 2022 by Euronet *Best Bank for

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 ...

- Asiamoney Best Bank Awards 2019 by

Euromoney ''Euromoney'' is an English-language monthly magazine focused on business and finance. First published in 1969, it is the flagship production of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc. History and profile ''Euromoney'' was first published in 19 ...

*Best Small Bank, Business Today – Money Today Financial Awards 2019 *Best Self Service Banking Initiative, Application - The Asian Banker Financial Technology Innovation Awards by

The Asian Banker The Asian Banker is a company that provides information for the financial services industry in the form of publications, online materials such as e-newsletters, research, and conventions, and other industry gatherings. It is regarded as one of ...

References

External links