SMALL FINANCE BANKS IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

SFBs ARE TAKING FINANCIAL INCLUSION BEYOND ACCOUNT OPENING AND CREATING INCOME OPPORTUNITIES IN REMOTE AREAS.

- Aprajita Sharma

DUMKA IN JHARKHAND is scripting an inspiring story for the world. Women in this tribal village have been making bamboo and water hyacinth handicrafts for ages. The task requires special skill sets but used to fetch them just enough to make ends meet. That is now history. Their lives were transformed when ESAF Small Finance Bank reached out to them and offered loans for scaling up the business. Now, among others, they sell to Swedish home-furnishing retailer Ikea, which markets their products to the world. The women, who used to make about ₹50 a day, now earn ₹8,000 a month. “Small loans can transform communities. We believe employment generation is a means of economic empowerment. For example, we trained tribal women in Kerala and gave them small loans to start microenterprises. One of our group entities, CEDAR Retail, has built an entire supply chain for the purpose," says K. Paul Thomas, MD, and CEO of ESAF Small Finance Bank.

Financial inclusion, after all, is not just about opening bank accounts and bank branches in remote areas. It is also about creating an ecosystem for employment generation so that people can start earning and focus on saving and investing. Small finance banks (SFBs), launched half a decade ago, are driving this change in remotest corners of the country.

THE BUSINESS CASE