Back in October 2015, when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the list of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) eligible to operate as small finance banks (SFBs), there was much cheer on how this opens up a new platform to serve the underserved in a structured banking format.
But after two years, as investors look back to assess the progress made by the marquee names — Equitas and Ujjivan — some amount of disappointment seems justified. Equitas Holdings was the first to hit the bourses in April 2016.