SKS Microfinance open to fresh bid for bank licence

MUMBAI: SKS Microfinance, which lost out on licence to convert itself into a small bank, will focus on achieving its 50% revenue growth target for the fiscal and work on improving its profitability as its cost of funds fall amid new sources of funding.

The company is keeping the doors open for a fresh bid since the Reserve Bank of India has said that it could move on to tap banking licence, said Dilli Raj, President, SKS Microfinance.

“It is a missed opportunity, and not a setback,” said Raj. “I am not saying it is a non-event, but a nonbusiness event. It is not going to impact my business, or operating structure, or even competitive strength over the next three to five years. It is not going to impact my business, or operating structure, or even competitive strength over the next three to five years.”

The country’s biggest micro lender was tipped to get the licence given its reach and more than three million customers.

But the lenders’ trouble in Andhra Pradesh a few years ago with charges such as employing unfair practices to recover loans and a struggle for management control might have led to the regulator keeping aside its application.