Centrum, BharatPe get licence from RBI to create 'India's 1st' digital small finance bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has today issued a Small Finance  Bank (SFB) licence to the consortium of Centrum Financial Services Limited (Centrum), the small business lending arm of the Centrum  Group and Resilient Innovations Private Limited (BharatPe).

"A new bank licence has been issued after a gap of nearly six years, and we thank the RBI for the confidence shown in the abilities of Centrum and BharatPe," Centrum said in a statement. The new SFB has been incorporated as  'Unity Small Finance Bank'. It has a major significance for both Centrum and BharatPe.  

Jaspal Bindra, Executive Chairman, Centrum Group, said: "We are delighted to receive the licence 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 licence. We will work tirelessly and smartly to capture this opportunity and build India’s first truly Digital Bank ground up," said Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and Managing Director, BharatPe.

Also read: BharatPe launches 'buy now, pay later' platform, postpe 

Also read: Former SBI boss Rajnish Kumar joins BharatPe as chairman

Also read: BharatPe, CRED, Groww in CB Insights' list of top 250 fintech companies of 2021