RBL Bank – among fastest growing private banks, on Friday, acquired a 9.99% stake in Utkarsh Micro Finance Ltd (UMFL), a strategic move to reach out the unbanked and under-banked segments of society.

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The transaction all received all the regulatory approvals.

UMFL has received in-principle approval from the RBI for setting up a small finance bank and is expected to commence operations soon.

For the customers of UMFL, the bank will be going to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to extend its product portfolio.

RBL Bank MD & CEO Vishwavir Ahuja said, “This is a strategic partnership rather than the mere acquisition of a minority stake in Utkarsh. It will help us extend our distribution footprint and strengthen our financial inclusion initiatives across the rural hinterland. We will strive to explore joint business opportunities that are beneficial to Utkarsh, RBL Bank and to our customers.”

On this occasion, Utkarsh Micro Finance MD & CEO Govind Singh noted, “ The long-term partnership with RBL Bank will help us augment our bouquet of products and services, including ancillary services. We hope to greatly benefit from RBL Bank’s domain knowledge of the banking and financial sector.”

This partnership will facilitate knowledge exchange between both the organizations and help in diversifying the product basket to Financial Inclusion customers.