Centrum, BharatPe get a licence from RBI to create India's First Digital Small Finance Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday issued a Small Finance Bank (SFB) license to the consortium of Centrum Financial Services Limited (Centrum), the established and profitable small business lending arm of the Centrum Group and Resilient Innovations Private Limited (BharatPe), one of India's fastest-growing fintech companies.

Centrum in a statement said, "A new bank license has been issued after a gap of nearly 6 years, and we thank the RBI for the confidence shown in the abilities of Centrum and BharatPe."

The new SFB, has been incorporated as 'Unity Small Finance Bank'. Unity as a name has tremendous significance on many counts for both Centrum and BharatPe. It is the first time ever that two partners are uniting equally to build a Bank. The proposed business model is one of collaboration and open architecture, uniting all its stakeholders to deliver a seamless digital experience.

Centrum's successful MSME and Micro Finance businesses shall be merged into Unity Small Finance Bank.

Commenting on the development, Jaspal Bindra, Executive Chairman, Centrum Group, said "We are delighted to receive the license and excited to partner with BharatPe to create this new age bank, with a strong team. We aspire to be India's first Digital Bank."

"I wish to thank RBI for entrusting the Unity of BharatPe and Centrum with the SFB License. We will work tirelessly and smartly to capture this opportunity and build India's first truly Digital Bank ground up," added Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and Managing Director, BharatPe.