RBI lifts all curbs on Equitas Small Finance Bank a week after its IPO

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted all restrictions imposed on Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) a year ago, the lender said on Monday, a week after it went public.

Later in the day, the SFB said it saw a 108 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 103 crore in Q2 against Rs 49 crore in Q2FY20. Net interest income was Rs 461 crore against Rs 351 crore in Q2FY20, growth of 32 per cent YoY. 

Last year, the RBI barred Equitas SFB from opening new branches after it missed the deadline to list its shares on the stock exchanges, a key licensing condition. The RBI also froze the salary of the SFB’s managing director and CEO. This has now been restored at the then existing level.

On November 2, the lender debuted on the stock exchanges with a 6 per cent discount against its issue price of Rs 33.

On Monday, its shares ended 0.76 per cent lower at Rs 32.65 on the BSE. According to the RBI’s licensing conditions issued in November 2014, an SFB’s shares have to be mandatorily listed on the stock exchanges within three years of reaching a net worth of Rs 500 crore. For Equitas SFB, that period came to an end on September 4, 2019.