ESAF Small Finance Bank looks for foreign equity partner

The Kerala-based bank has collected Rs 1,450 crore since it began operations in March

Kerala-based ESAF Small Finance Bank has begun talks to find a foreign equity partner, more than a year after it received a licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a Small Finance Bank (SFB).

“We are in talks with foreign investors. But the talks are in initial stages, and by the next (financial) quarter, it (deal) might get formalised…in the form of equity,” ESAF’s managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), K Paul Thomas, told Business Standard on Monday. He was speaking on the sidelines of the bank’s announcement to open its first branch in the National