Small Finance Banks

Why is it in the news
  • As per the recent Data from RBI, the small finance banks, in total, saw their deposits grow 31.6% in the third quarter (ended December) of the last financial year.
  • The sector has seen remarkable growth in credit disbursement as well as deposits, albeit on a low base.
More in the news
    • On a year-on-year basis, the growth was 193.4%.
    • The previous quarters saw even faster growth, with Q2 at 306%, Q1 at 331%.
    • This phenomenal growth, however, has come on a very small base and that’s perhaps why the bigger banks and NBFCs don’t see small finance banks as a competition just yet.
    • In context, the ₹30,000 crore of deposits (as of December end) in small finance banks makes up just 0.2% of the deposits in all scheduled commercial banks.
Small Finance Banks:
    • Small finance banks are banks with a differentiated bank license from the RBI.
    • The objective behind the Small finance banks is to promote financial inclusion.
    • They primarily undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to unserved and underserved sections.
    • These sections includes small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities.
    • They lend  75% of their total adjusted net bank credit to priority sector.
Source
The Hindu.




Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 8th Apr 2019