Blackstone invests Rs 150 crore in FINO

The Blackstone Group has invested Rs 150 crore in Financial Information and Network Operations (FINO) Limited for a significant minority stake. FINO provides integrated technology solutions and physical network to enable financial inclusion in India.

FINO works with most of the leading banks in the country across a comprehensive product suite - saving bank accounts, recurring deposits, loan products, remittances, insurance products, government subsidies disbursement, among others. The company has enrolled more than 35 million customers and plans to double its customer base in the next couple of years.Global private equity investors have shown more interest on non-banking finance companies in India. Recently, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. (KKR) and International Finance Corp. (IFC), jointly invested Rs 440 crore in the NBFC—Magma Fincorp Ltd.

Akhil Gupta, chairman and managing director of Blackstone Advisors India Private Limited, said “India has a significantly high number of financially excluded households – more than 100 million, with an exclusion rate of over 50 per cent. The exclusion is much more prevalent in the rural areas. For sustainable and inclusive growth, India needs to extend basic utilities like financial services to the excluded population.”

FINO earns its revenue by enrolling and opening the bank account for various banking products and government subsidy program. Post that, FINO earns revenue on each transaction and multiple products (non-banking as well) it sells to that set of customer. FINO in addition is rolling out the largest cash-less health insurance scheme of the Government (RSBY). Manish Khera, chief executive, FINO Limited, said: “The company's outlook is even stronger with government focus of using business correspondent channel for cash subsidies and RBI’s drive to achieve total financial inclusion.”

FINO, headquartered in Mumbai, has 2500 employees and 20000 business correspondent agents spread across 239 offices.