ESAF Small Finance Bank

ESAF Small Finance Bank

ESAF Small Finance Bank logo since 10 March 2017
Registered and corporate office at Mannuthy, Thrissur city
Formerly	ESAF Microfinance and Investments Pvt. Ltd.
Type	Public
Traded as	BSE: 544020 NSE: ESAFSFB
Industry	Banking
Founded	10 March 2017 (2017-03-10)
Headquarters	Mannuthy, Thrissur (Registered & Corporate Office)
Number of locations	800+ branches (2026)
Area served	India
Key people	Karthikeyan Manickam (Part time Chairman & Non-Executive Independent Director) Dr. K. Paul Thomas (MD & CEO)
Operating income	₹1,346 crore (US$140 million) (FY23)
Number of employees	10500+ (2026)
Website	www.esaf.bank.in

ESAF Small Finance Bank (formerly known as ESAF Microfinance and Investments) is an Indian small finance bank headquartered in Thrissur city , Kerala, providing banking services and small loans to the underbanked.

ESAF Microfinance originated as an NGO in 1992 under the name Evangelical Social Action Forum brfore receiving a non-banking financial company and microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI) license from Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The bank is one of the leading SFB's in the country to provide its customers with a variety of banking services, including micro, retail and corporate banking, para banking activities such as debit cards, third party financial product distribution. In addition to these, the bank also deals with treasury and permitted foreign exchange businesses . The bank also offers online services, including electronic funds transfer, bill payment services, usage of credit cards online, requesting account statements, and requesting cheque books. The assets comprise of micro loans, retail loans, loans to MSMEs, loans to financial institutions, corporate and agricultural loans .

History

On 11 March 1992, K. Paul Thomas, along with Mereena Paul and a few friends, started ESAF in a small house in Mannuthy named Little. Jacob Samuel, one of the co-founders, coined the name ESAF, which is an acronym for Evangelical Social Action Forum. At inception, ESAF had five life members, seven annual members and eight honorary members. ESAF society was registered under the Travancore Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act. The initial president was Itty Mathew; J. Danabai was the vice president, Thomas was the secretary, supported by Samuel as joint secretary and Arun Ramakrishnan as treasurer. The society was focused on the development of micro-enterprises, community development and community health development .

ESAF started providing interest free loans in 1995 as one of the first microfinance institutions in the country and the first microfinance company in Kerala. It became ESAF Small Finance Bank after receiving the first banking license in Kerala since independence.

Operations

The bank was incorporated on May 5, 2016, as a public limited company with an RoC. The license to function as an SFB was received from RBI on the 18th of November, 2016 . They commenced their banking operations from 10th March, 2017. As per RBI approval the bank became a scheduled bank from the 12th of November, 2018 .

On 17 March 2017, Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala officially inaugurated ESAF Small Finance Bank at Thrissur, Kerala. By August 2017, the bank had 3,750 employees, 284 branches, and a presence in 11 states.

ESAF Small Finance Bank received RBI approval to operate as scheduled bank in December 2018, making it the fifth scheduled bank from Kerala. This will reduce the bank's cost of funds, while increasing the bank's ability and obligation to provide services. The bank's net profit increased to ₹190.39 crore in the 2019-2020 financial year from ₹90.28 crore the previous year.

Following its registration as a Core Investment Company (CIC) with the Reserve Bank of India, the promoter entity was renamed ESAF Financial Holdings Private Limited on 1 March 2019.

On 26 March 2020, the bank received approval from SEBI for issuing its ₹976 crore initial public offering.

In July 2024, the bank created a microfinance vertical as part of business restructuring. The same had started with 5200 staff members . These staff were absorbed from the ESAF Swasraya Multi-State Agro Co-Operative Society Ltd. This was to restructure the management of microloans, which were managed by ESMACO before . The same is meant to look at the needs of the rural population through micro loans, agricultural loans, vehicle loans and home loans. This was done to mitigate risks, and to let ESMACO continue with their business management operations at the Customer Service Centres .

In October 2025, ESAF SFB and Getepay had announced a strategic partnership. This partnership is designed to deploy Vega, a next generation payment switch . This partnership is significant to strengthening the digital infrastructure of India. The values of this partnership is to enable seamless, secure, and inclusive digital banking services for customers and businesses . The platform was designed to empower banks and financial institutions with scalable, high performance infrastructure for real time and automated reconciliation .

In February 2026, ESAF SFB had decided to modernise onboarding and lending activities. Through these initiatives, they expected to optimise IT costs and lower the costs of licensing . To facilitate the same, the bank had partnered with Newgen Software. A single, unified user interface was launched to cater to branch users, back-office teams and customers . Through this, the bank is to streamline account opening, customer onboarding, and its loan origination system workflows across business segments. Newgen's low code digital platform will aid these technology-based changes the bank wishes to make .

During this time period, the MD of ESAF SFB, Paul Thomas stated that the bank will be applying for a universal banking license in two years' time. This is so as the bank will move towards improving asset quality and profitability during stress in the business of microfinance .

As of 31st March 2026, ESAF Small Finance Bank has a network of 804 branches, 720 ATMs and 1047 Customer Service Centres across 24 states and 2 Union Territories with a customer base of more than 1 Crore and 10,994 employees.

In June 2026, the bank's total business had crossed Rs. 50,000 crore. The total deposits of the bank crossed Rs. 26,197 crore and gross advances at Rs. 23,832 crores .

Employees

As of March 2026, ESAF Small Finance Bank Ltd. has about 3,502 total employees. The total headcount of employees had increased by 35.8% from 2023 . The regional concentration of the employees is mostly in South Asia, followed by the Arab States and East Asia . The most functional group of ESAF is Finance and Operations. The other functional sectors are Engineering and Sales and Marketing .

As of April 2026, a restructuring of the bank took place: three key managerial personnel were reclassified to senior management positions. The bank established a comprehensive senior management personnel framework covering all executive vice presidents and control function heads.

Earlier this year, Karthikeyan Manickam was appointed as the chairman of ESAF SFB. He is an experienced banking professional with about four decades of experience in the banking sector .

Other Initiatives

ESG Initiatives

In November 2025, the bank had become one of the top performers in the country as per the ESG metrics, based on the CareEdge ESG ratings. The rating was 75.4, and pushed the bank into the top categories in the country .

In July 2026, ESAF Bank invited applications for Climate Smart Agricultural Awards. The same was to encourage innovative farming solutions that enhance productivity, conserve natural resources, and strengthen rural livelihoods in the face of climate change . The same is a part of a national initiative to recognise and celebrate farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), agri-entrepreneurs, and innovators. The same is to encourage people to champion climate resilient and sustainable agricultural practices . The awards carry a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 for the winner, and Rs. 25,000 for the runner up. The applicants are to be evaluated on the basis of innovation, climate resilience, community impact, improvement in farm productivity, and income and scalability of sustainable farming practices .

Towards Valuing Housework

In 2009, a study was conducted by ESAF in partnership with HealthBridge, an organisation based in Canada. The study sample was the women located in and around Nagpur . The study was titled, 'Women’s Economic Contribution through Their Unpaid Household Work: The Case of India'. This study shaped Supreme Court jurisprudence, in the case of recognising unpaid domestic work as economically valuable. The same was quoted from the 2010 Arun Kumar Agarwal to the landmark verdict that came out in June 11, 2026 that recognised unpaid housework as valuable . This led to the recognition of housewives as 'nation-builders', and an amount of Rs. 30,000 was fixed to benchmark their labour. This was to cover any accident compensations .

The study argued that women's labour subsidises families, businesses, and governments by sustaining workforce without appearing in any major national statistic . The results of the study revealed that women worked for an average of 16 hours per day, combining paid and unpaid work. This also meant that they had very little time on their hands for rest and recreation .

MoU with TATA Motors

In 2024, Tata Motors and ESAF SFB had partnered with each other to offer attractive financial solutions to their range of commercial vehicle customers . The MoU had started with Small Commercial Vehicles (SCVs) and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) and was later expanded to include the entire commercial range of TATA Motors.

This MoU was built with the intention of taking financing opportunities to the underbanked areas of India . Another important goal of this collaboration is financial inclusion and accessibility. This collaboration was also aimed at improving entrepreneurship and job creation, particularly in the field of logistics .

Gallery

• 
  Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurating ESAF Small Finance Bank at Thrissur in March, 2017
• 
  K. Paul Thomas, Founder of ESAF, MD & CEO of ESAF Small Finance Bank

See also

• Banking in India
• List of banks in India
• Indian Financial System Code