Fino wants to sell its BC business and aims to eventually become a universal bank: CEO

Fino Payments Bank, director Rishi Gupta

“There are a lot of operational issues related to getting people, technology operations and lines of business right. Then there are some corporate actions at the holding company level. We have a corporate BC company, which we cannot do under the SFB structure, so we will have to demerge. Right now, we are planning to sell this company instead of making it a group entity,” said Gupta, adding that the entity expects to get final approval from the RBI within 12 to 18 months.

Through its BC network of approximately 15,000 points of contact, Fino provides services to other partner banks for account opening, cash withdrawals and related services. In H1FY26, this industry accounted for 8 percent of total revenue.

Fino Payments Bank will rebrand itself as Fino SFB after the conversion and double its branch network from 120 currently, in the next 2-3 years, and hire 500-600 employees in the first years after becoming an SFB.

Core activity, universal bank

Gupta said Fino’s ability to make liabilities has already been proven to some extent, with a low-cost current and savings account (CASA) deposit base of ₹2,300 crore in Q2FY26.

“We mobilize ₹700 crore of deposits every year and will continue to build on that because of our wide distribution network,” he said. Fino will be able to source loans from its merchants and focus on selling secured loans such as loans against real estate, gold loans and affordable housing in the initial phase. MSME loans, two-wheeler loans and credit cards can be considered at a later stage, Gupta said, ruling out the possibility of selling microfinance loans.

“We meet people who play key roles on the credit side, including underwriting, credit risk, retail and branch banking,” said Gupta. He added that the entity does not currently need or plan to raise new capital, but did not rule out the possibility of furthering growth.

When asked if Fino is aiming to become a universal bank, Gupta said, “Why not look at the universal banking licence. It is premature at this stage but regulatory guidelines do allow SFBs to convert into a universal bank after meeting certain criteria. At an appropriate time we will look at it. The ambition is there but currently there is no activity on that front but whatever we do will be done with that objective,” he said.

Published on December 7, 2025