In a bid to speed-up its operations in the country, ESAF Small Finance Bank is planning to open 165 more branches in the current financial year.
As of now, the bank’s current customer base is around 27 lakh and in total it has 300 branches across the country.
The lender is planning to venture into two new states Gujarat and West Bengal in this fiscal, inflating its total footprint to 14.
It is present across 12 states including Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand among others, said K Paul Thomas, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ESAF Small Finance Bank.
By June 2021, the bank is also looking at an Initial Public Offering (IPO). “We will hit the market at the right time,” he said.
The lender’s network is spread across 432 banking outlets (including microfinance outlets), with deposits of about Rs 3,500 crore and total loans and advances of about Rs 4,660 crore.
The lender launched its Small Finance Bank in March 2017 and receives around 99 percent of its business from rural areas, with a major contribution of women borrowers, added Thomas.
“Many middle and lower socio-economic class families from non-metro cities do not have access to the services offered by the formal finance sector. This tie-up will help PNB MetLife and ESAF SFB reach many more Indians and further the Indian Government’s agenda of holistic financial inclusion,” he added.
