by Suman Gupta
January 2023, Mumbai: ESAF Small Finance Bank has bagged the prestigious Inclusive Finance India Awards 2022 for its contributions in advancing the goal of financial inclusion and supporting inclusive growth. Mr. K. Paul Thomas, MD & CEO of ESAF Bank, received the award from Mr. Anantha Nageshwaran, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India, at the 19th Inclusive Finance India Summit held in New Delhi. The Inclusive Finance India Awards is an initiative of ACCESS Development Services constituted in 2009 in partnership with HSBC India. “This valued recognition is a great encouragement for us to reach out to more deserving people who are still out of the banking purview in our country. ESAF Bank has successfully fostered a culture of financial discipline and also encouraged those people, especially women, to become financially stable in the unbanked and underbanked regions of the country,” Mr. Paul Thomas said.
This award is a recognition of ESAF’s unique spectrum of Financial Inclusion projects ESAF Dhansree, ESAF Udyog Jyothi, LSEDP (Local Sustainable Economic Development Project), ESAF Balajyothi, ESAF Vayojyothi and ESAF Garshom. The Inclusive Finance India Awards initiative aims to celebrate and encourage deserving institutions to continue to enhance outreach to the poor by way of motivating management and staff through recognition of their painstaking efforts and enhancing the credibility of the institution, thereby making it more attractive for funding.
About the ESAF Bank:ESAF Small Finance Bank is Kerala’s first small finance bank, started its microfinancing operations in 1995. Founded by K. Paul Thomas, the Thrissur-based bank is a pioneer in developing a formal and structured form of lending at the village level by forming mutually trusted groups. In 2017, it became a small finance bank with the RBI license, becoming the first bank to get licensed post-independence in Kerala. ESAF was successful in fostering a culture of financial discipline and also encouraged women to become financially stable to support their households in the remote and unbanked/underbanked regions of the country. With their consistent growth and inevitable presence in the market along with good customer relations, the bank has become exceptional covering vast domains with their outlets and ATMs.
