Indiabulls gets nod for NBFC

Indiabulls has received the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) nod to start non-banking financial services (NBFC) business.

The licence will be utilised to set up a company that will launch products targeting the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector. The business will be called Indiabulls Commercial Credit (ICC) and will start in a couple of months.

"We have recently received the certificate of registration from RBI and should start the business in a couple of months," confirmed an Indiabulls executive. ICC will initially start as a subsidiary of Indiabulls Financial Services (IBFSL), but it may be hived off in the future.

Indiabulls had also applied for a licence to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to start its asset management business.

The company is very close to getting an in-principle approval from Sebi, said a person familiar with the matter.

Recently, Indiabulls Credit Services (ICSL), which was in the consumer finance sector, was merged with IBFSL and Indiabulls Securities (ISL) was hived off from IBFSL. Indiabulls will shortly list ISL on the exchanges.

Currently, private sector banks, such as Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, and public sector banks, including State Bank of India, are big players in the SME lending segment.