ESAF Small Finance Bank, the first bank from Kerala to get a banking license since independence is expanding its operations by opening three branches at Velachery, Mugappair and Purusaiwakkam in Chennai.Velachery branch was inaugurated by Mr. K. Pandiarajan, Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture, Govt. of Tamil Nadu. Purasaiwakkam branch was inaugurated by Durgesh Sumrutt, IRS and Mugappiar branch was inaugurated by Dr T Dhevanathan Yadhav, Founder of IMKMK, Chairman and MD of WIN TV. All the functions were presided by Paul K Thomas, Founder and Director of ESAF Group.Dr M Selvaraj, Principal of Guru Nanak College, Velachery inaugurated the ATM Counter and Dr Kishore Kumar, Chairman of St. Johns Group of Educational Institutions, Chennai inaugurated the Safe deposit Locker at Velachery. Cash Counter and Skype counter were inaugurated by CA A.John Moris, Managing Partner of A.John Moris & Co Charted Accountants, Chennai and Mohammed Iqbal Kannan, National President of Minority respectively.
Dr S Devaraj, Chairman, Annai Velankanni Group of Educational Institutions Chennai inaugurated the ATM Counter and Dr Shivakadaksham, D.M Consultant Cardiologist, Siva Cardio Care,Chennai inaugurated the Cash Counter at Purusaiwakkam. Dr. M. J. Ramakrishnan, Vice President, Dental Council of Tamil Nadu spoke.H. Padmanabhan, Chairman of Banking & Insurance Committee of the Institute of the Cost Accountants of India, Chennai, inaugurated the ATM Counter and Nakkeeran Gopal, Editor-in-Chief of Nakkeeran Publications, Chennai inaugurated the Safe deposit Locker at Mugappair. Cash Counter and Skype counter were inaugurated by L. Venugopal, President, Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufactures Association, Chennai and CA G. Kumar Senior Partner, A.John Moris & Co inaugurated the Cash Counter and Skype counter respectively.ESAF SFB has opened its 125th Branch in Tamil Nadu at Purasaiwakkam, Chennai. As on date, ESAF Small Finance Bank has 422 banking outlets,125 new retail banking outlets, 205 ATMs, 297 Micro banking outlets and around 2.5 million customer base, spread across 11 states and round 106 districts in India.
About ESAF Small Finance Bank
The journey of ESAF began in a small house named ‘Little’ at Thrissur in 1992. Contrary to what the name sounds, ESAF Society was launched with a bigger vision of sustainable holistic transformation of the poor and the marginalized. The success of Grameen bank in Bangladesh reinforced the vision of K. Paul Thomas the Founder and Managing Director of ESAF. In 1995, he launched Micro Enterprises Development (MED) services and it resulted in the formation of ESAF Microfinance and Investments Pvt. Ltd., in 2008.In 2015, the Reserve Bank of India, the financial regulator in the country has granted in-principle license to ESAF to launch a Small Finance bank. ESAF Small Finance Bank was one amongst the ten NBFCs to receive an 'in principle' approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a Small Finance Bank in the private sector. In November 2016, the final license was issued by the RBI. ESAF Small Finance Bank was incorporated on May 05, 2016, with its registered office in Thrissur.