The Reserve Bank of India informed on Monday that Unity Small Finance Bank has commenced operations as a small finance bank (SFB), with effect from November 1. It has been issued a licence under Section 22 (1) of the Banking Regulation Act (1949) for operating as an SFB in India.
The apex banker informed that the promoter of the Unity Small Finance Bank Limited, Centrum Financial Services was granted an 'in-principle approval to set up a small finance bank on June 18.
On October 12, the Reserve Bank of India issued an SFB license to the BharatPe-Centrum consortium. The SFB was named ‘Unity Small Finance Bank’. It was to take over assets and liabilities of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC Bank).
Former State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Rajnish Kumar would preside as the chairman of the BharatPe board. He had completed his tenure as the chairman of SBI in October 2020.
The approval was in response to an expression of interest announced by PMC Bank as part of its reconstruction plans in 2020. RBI said it received multiple proposals but found Centrum Financial Services and BharatPe's proposal most feasible.
A joint release issued by Centrum and BharatPe had informed that Centrum's MSME and microfinance business would be integrated into the newly constituted Unity Small Finance Bank.
