RBL Bank gets rights to acquire 100% stake in Swadhaar FinServe

Currently, Swadhaar operates in 17 states and union territories through 242 branches

After hiking stake to 60 per cent in Mumbai-based financial services products distributor Swadhaar FinServe (SFL), private lender RBL Bank has acquired rights to increase the stake to 100 per cent.

Early this month, RBL increased its stake in SFL, a captive business correspondent company, from 30 per cent to 60.48 per cent. With this, the business correspondent company is a subsidiary of the bank.

The bank in a statement said SFL is engaged in offering services to the financial inclusion segment covering micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and micro banking in rural and semi-urban areas.

The bank holds the rights to increase its stake to 100 per cent subject to regulatory approvals. RBL Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Vishwavir Ahuja said, "Deepening our relationship with Swadhaar Finserve is in sync with our broad vision and strategy."

Currently, the Swadhaar business operates in 17 states and union territories through 242 branches. Swaadhar has helped the bank create assets under management (AUM) of around Rs. 1,000 crore as of September 2017.  

RBL Bank has partnered with 12 corporate BCs, which has a footprint across 24 states and union territories and 677 branches. Out of these 171 branches have been declared as banking outlets.

Th bank has been able to establish a sizable business in the financial inclusion segment with an advances book of around Rs 4,600 crore serving 1.9 million borrowers.