Current Affairs - Banking - Discussion

The Thrissur, Kerala-based ESAF Small Finance Bank has received the Reserve Bank approval to operate as scheduled bank making it the fifth scheduled bank that operates from Kerala after Federal Bank, South Indian Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank, and Dhanlaxmi Bank. The ESAF Small Finance Bank Ltd has received the RBI's approval for inclusion in the second schedule of the RBI Act, 1934 paving its way to operate as scheduled bank. In 2016, RBI gave approval to ESAF MFI along with 9 other applicants to start banking operations as a small finance bank and within two years of its commencement of operations, it has received the scheduled bank tag. On the operation front, the ESAF Small Finance Bank has a network of 432 outlets across 13 states with 2.6 million customers and a loan book of Rs 4,660 crore and deposits if over Rs 3,300 crore. Its capital- to-risk-weighted-asset (CRAR) ratio stands at 27.39 per cent.