AU Small Finance Bank Limited, initially known as Au Financiers (India) Limited was incorporated as a Public Limited Company. On 13th April 2017, the name of the Company was changed from 'Au Financiers (India) Limited' to 'AU Small Finance Bank Limited' and thereafter the Bank commenced its banking operations on 19th April, 2017 and surrendered its NBFC-ND-AFC Certificate of Registration with the RBI.
The Bank is engaged in providing a range of banking and financial services including retail banking, wholesale banking and treasury operation
AU Small Finance Bank Limited, initially known as Au Financiers (India) Limited was incorporated as a Public Limited Company. On 13th April 2017, the name of the Company was changed from 'Au Financiers (India) Limited' to 'AU Small Finance Bank Limited' and thereafter the Bank commenced its banking operations on 19th April, 2017 and surrendered its NBFC-ND-AFC Certificate of Registration with the RBI.
The Bank is engaged in providing a range of banking and financial services including retail banking, wholesale banking and treasury operations and other services. The Bank operates in India only and does not have presence in any foreign country.
In 2005, the Company became commercial associate of HDFC Bank for carrying on the business of financing commercial vehicles. In 2006, the Company expanded its operations into Maharashtra. In 2008, the Company obtained investment of Rs 20 crore from India Business Excellence Fund and India Business Excellence Fund-1. In 2009, Company forayed into Gujarat.
In 2010, the Company received fresh certificate of registration under section 45 IA of RBI Act from the RBI pursuant to which RBI classified the company as NBFC- ND-AFC. During the year, the company obtained investment of Rs 35 crore, Rs 6 crore and Rs 14 crore, from IFC, IBE Fund and IBE Fund-I, respectively. Also during the year, the company attained the status of 'Systemically Important Non-Deposit Taking Asset Finance Company'.
In 2011, AuHFL was established as a subsidiary of the company to provide housing finance services. In 2012, the company obtained investment of Rs 150 crore and Rs 33.04 crore from Redwood and IFC, respectively. During the year, the company received upgrade of credit rating from CRISIL BBB+ / Stable to CRISIL A / Stable for long term bank facilities by CRISIL Ratings. During the year, Au Insurance Broking Services Private Limited was established as a subsidiary of the company to provide insurance and broking services.
The company was converted into a public limited company by way of a special resolution passed by Shareholders at the EGM held on January 10, 2013 and the name of the company was changed to Au Financiers (India) Limited'. A fresh certificate of incorporation consequent upon conversion to a public limited company was issued by the RoC on 11 January 2013.
The company was granted the in-principle approval to establish a Small Finance Bank (SFB) by the RBI, pursuant to its letter dated 7 October 2015. During the year 2015, the company received upgrade of credit rating to CARE A+ for long-term banking facilities by CARE Ratings.
During the year 2016, the company received upgrade in long-term rating of CRISIL A/ Watch Positive by CRISIL Ratings. Pursuant to RBI approval dated April 6, 2016, the company divested its shareholding in AuHFL which was erstwhile subsidiary company. Pursuant to RBI approval dated May 18, 2016, the company divested its entire shareholding in IML. Pursuant to RBI approval dated September 6, 2016, the company divested 29.53% of the total shareholding of M Power Micro Finance Private Limited. The company divested its entire shareholding in Au Insurance Broking Services Private Limited (AuIBSPL), erstwhile associate company. The RBI granted the final approval to the company to establish an SFB by its letter dated 20 December 2016
AU Bank's IPO received an overwhelming response in June 2017 with an oversubscription of about 54 times.
On 4 October 2017, AU Small Finance Bank announced that it entered into agreement with Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company (ABHICL) for Health Insurance Products as Corporate Agent.
On 28 October 2017, AU Small Finance Bank announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to provide an impetus to funding MSMEs. Under AU SIDBI Joint Financing Programme', both the financial institutes have decided to work together in the areas of joint financing of projects relating to MSMEs in manufacturing and service sectors. They will adopt a common approach towards project identification, appraisal, monitoring, follow-up and client servicing. The appraisal of the proposal shall be done jointly by AU Bank and SIDBI. Both the financial institutes would earmark a corpus of Rs 100 crore for lending under this MOU for FY 2018. The corpus for the subsequent years would be decided after mutual consultation and seeing the progress made during FY 2018. The 3 year-long agreement will focus on timely and adequate credit availability to Medium Scale Enterprise (MSEs) units and efforts will be made for augmenting credit flow to MSE.
AU Small Finance Bank received Scheduled Commercial bank status from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in November 2017.
On 3 November 2017, AU Small Finance Bank announced that the Reserve Bank of India has granted approval to SBI Mutual Fund to acquire shareholding of upto 10% through its various schemes in AU Small Finance Bank.
On 28 November 2017, AU Small Finance Bank announced that it has commenced offering mutual fund distribution for its customers. The bank has partnered with 11 reputed mutual fund houses (AMC) for starting this product segment.
On 19 December 2017, AU Small Finance Bank announced that it has entered into the Business Correspondent Agreement with M/S Sahaj E-Village Limited for providing bank and financial services through the use of Business Correspondent model.
On 12 January 2018, AU Small Finance Bank announced the launch of home loan product for its customers. AU Small Finance Bank opened 71 new unbanked rural banking outlets in March 2018.
On 6 March 2018, AU Small Finance Bank announced that the bank has tied up with Aurionpro Solutions to enhance its digital banking offering corporate internet banking and cash anagement platform for SME, MSMEs and corporate customers.
On 3 April 2018, AU Small Finance Bank announced that it has entered into agreement with Future Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited (FGLI) to act as corporate agent for life insurance business. This tie up shall be mutually beneficial for the bank and FGLI in terms of business, market penetration and reach.
The Board of Directors of AU Small Finance Bank at its meeting held on 19 May 2018 approved issuance of 43.30 lakh fully paid-up equity shares of the bank and issuance of 1.01 crore convertible warrants carrying an option to subscribe to an equivalent number of equity shares on preferential basis to Camas Investments Pte Ltd., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, at total subscription amount of Rs 1000 crore. The entire consideration payable for the issuance of equity shares shall become payable on or before the date of allotment of equity shares. An amount equivalent to at least 25% of the subscription consideration payable towards convertible warrants, shall become payable on or before the date of allotment of the convertible warrants and the balance 75% of the subscription consideration payable towards convertible warrants shall be paid at the time of exercise of the convertible warrants by Camas Investments Pte. Ltd. Under the preferential allotment, the issue price of equity shares is Rs 692.77 per share and the issue price of the convertible warrant is Rs 692.77 per convertible warrant. Camas Investments shall be entitled to exercise any or all of the convertible warrants, in one or multiple tranches, within 18 months from the date of allotment of convertible warrants.
On 30 May 2018, AU Small Finance Bank announced that it has been issued Certificate of Registration under Securities Exchange Board of India (Bankers to an issue) Regulations, 1994 by Securities Exchange Board of India.
During FY 2018-19, the Bank's disbursement rose to Rs 16,077 crore as against Rs 10,825 crore in FY 2017-18, registering an increase of 49%.
As on 31st March 2019,the Bank's distribution network stood at 322 Branches, 83 Asset Centres, 86 Banking Outlets (BOs) and 67 Business Correspondents (BCs), 14 Offices and 543 ATMs spread across 11 States and Union Territory.
The assets under management (AUM) increased to Rs 24,246 crore as at 31st March 2019 from Rs 16,188 crore as at 31st March 2018, up by 50%.The total net advances grew 71.4% to Rs 22,819 crore from Rs 13,312 crore.
During the FY2019,the bank has issued 4330441 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 682.77 per share to Camas Investments Pte. Ltd through preferential allotment.
During the FY2020,the Assets Under Management (AUM) to Rs 30,893 crore as against Rs 24,246 crore in March 2019,registering a growth of 27%.The bank clocked 10% and 35% sequential and annual growth in its aggregate deposits, which stood at the Rs 26,164 crore mark on 31st March 2020. As at 31 March 2020, the Bank has reported total gross advances of Rs 27,233 crore as against Rs 22,994 crore in the previous year.
As on 31st March 2020, the bank had 647 touchpoints, which comprised 406 bank branches, 122 banking outlets, 88 business correspondents, 31 asset centers, 13 offices and 356 ATMs (including TATA Indicash ATMs) across 11 states and one Union Territory.
The bank raised Rs 625.5 crore primary equity through the QIP route in March 2021. The issue was for 50 lakh equity shares and received strong reception from both domestic and international institutional investors.
The Bank has its presence in 15 states & 2 UTs, having total 744 touch points (552 bank branches, 177 BCBOs & 15 BCs) and 343 ATMs as on 31st March 2021.
During the FY2021,the Assets Under Management (AUM) of the Bank increased by 22% to Rs 37,712 crore as on 31st March 2021 as against Rs 30,893 crore as on 31st March 2020, primarily driven by growth in the retail assets under management.
The Bank has its presence in 18 states & 2 UTs and had total 919 touch points, which comprised 692 Bank Branches, 210 BCBOs & 17 BCs and 514 (including co-branded) ATMs as on 31st March, 2022. During FY 2021-22, Bank has expanded its distribution and opened 87 new Bank Branches and entered 3 newer states.
During FY 2022, the Assets Under Management (AUM) stood at Rs. 47,831 crore reflecting 27% YoY growth.
The Bank has its presence in 21 states & 3 UTs and had total 1,027 touch points, which comprised 474 Bank Branches, 235 BCBOs & 14 BCs and 493 (including co-branded) ATMs as on 31st March, 2023. During FY 2022-23, Bank has expanded its distribution and opened 108 new Bank Branches and entered 4 newer states.
During the year 2022-23, the Bank had allotted 31,50,93,233 equity shares of Rs 10 each as fully paid-up Bonus Equity Shares to the eligible shareholders as on the record date i.e. June 10, 2022 in the proportion of 1:1, i.e., 1 bonus equity share for every 1 fully paid-up equity shares held effective from May 29, 2022.
The Bank issued Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) of 3,44,82,758 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each at an issue price of Rs 580 per Equity Share (including a security premium of Rs 570 per Equity Share) on subscription by Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB) aggregating to Rs 2,000 crore, which opened on August 3, 2022 and allotment of Equity shares were made on August 9, 2022.
In FY 2023-24, Bank expanded the distribution network and opened 17 new bank branches taking the total branch count to 629. Further, the Bank launched ATM Insurance, which enables customers to buy insurance through the ATMs with their debit card in 2024.
In 2024-25, the Scheme of Amalgamation of Fincare Small Finance Bank Limited (Fincare SFB) into and with the Bank became effective on April 01, 2024. The shareholders of Fincare SFB received 579 equity shares of the Bank in exchange for every 2,000 equity shares of Rs.10 each, fully paid up in Fincare SFB through Share Exchange Ratio. In accordance with the said Scheme of Amalgamation, 7,35,25,352 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each were issued and allotted to the shareholders of erstwhile Fincare SFB on April 01, 2024.
The Bank has rolled out its first Agentic AI platform with embedded guardrails & controls in 2026. The Bank launched Gold Loan LOS on this AI-native platform. The Bank received the Reserve Bank of India's in-principle approval to transition into a Universal Bank. Following this, the Bank filed its application with the RBI in March 2026 for grant of the final licence for Universal Bank transition which is subject to regulatory approvals.
Bank's deposits increased by 23% year-on-year to Rs 1,52,661 Crore and gross loan portfolio growing by 21% year-on-year to Rs 1,40,327 Crore in FY26. Profit After Tax (PAT) rose by 25% year-on-year to Rs 2,641 crore, with return on assets improving to 1.6%, and return on equity to 14.2% in 2026.
