RBL Bank

RBL Bank, formerly known as Ratnakar Bank Limited, is an Indian private sector bank founded in 1943 and headquartered in Mumbai. It offers services across five verticals: corporate banking, commercial banking, branch banking and retail liabilities, retail assets, and treasury and financial markets operations.

History
On 6 August 1943, Ratnakar Bank was founded as a regional bank in Maharashtra with two branches in Kolhapur and Sangli by Babgonda Bhujgonda Patil from Sangli and Gangappa Siddappa Chougule from Kolhapur. It mainly served small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and business merchants in the Kolhapur-Sangli belt. The bank was incorporated in Kolhapur district on 14 June 1943 as Ratnakar Bank Limited. In 1959, the bank was categorized as a scheduled commercial bank as per the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. During this decade, it was referred to as an NH4 Bank. In 1970, it received a banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

In July 2010, Vishwavir Ahuja became managing director and CEO of the bank. In August 2014, the name of the bank was changed to RBL Bank Limited.

On 12 June 2022, R Subramaniakumar was appointed as the Managing Director and CEO of the bank.

Operations
As of March 2024, it had a network of 545 branches and 395 ATMs across 28 states and union territories. It has 12,473 employees. The bank also has a network of 1,272 business correspondent branches, of which 952 are managed by RBL Finserve Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank.

In 2016, the bank ran a financial literacy programme called Saksham in collaboration with the CDC to provide education to 25,000 individuals and 300 villages in four districts of Madhya Pradesh. Another Saksham programme was run in Ahmedabad in 2013.

In 2018, RBL Bank partnered with MoneyTap to launch India's first personal credit line-based app. In June of the same year, the company announced that it had raised its stake in microlender Swadhaar FinServe to 100 per cent.

Funding
The Bank has raised Rs. 8,600 crore of equity capital and Rs. 1500 crore of Basel III-compliant Tier II debt from 2010 to date. The Bank counts Barings Private Equity Asia, British International Investment (formerly CDC Group), Multiples Alternate Asset Management, the Asian Development Bank, HDFC Ltd., ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, and Gaja Capital, among others, as its shareholders.

Throughout the 2010s, RBL Bank reportedly raised a total of INR 4,000 crore from investors. It raised INR 700 crore in 2011, INR 376 crore in 2013, INR 328 crore in 2014 and INR 488 crore in 2016. In July 2017, RBL Bank received board approval to raise an additional INR 1680 crore.

In December 2019, the company announced that it had raised INR 675 crore through a preferential issue. Investors such as East Bridge Capital Master Fund and WF Asian Reconnaissance Fund participated.

In August 2020, the company announced that it had raised INR 1,566 crore through a preferential issue. It was led by Baring Private Equity Asia, while other investors included ICICI Prudential Life, CDC Group and local private equity company Gaja Capital.

Awards and recognition

 * Best Bank for Digital solutions - Asiamoney Best Bank Awards 2022 by Euromoney
 * Best Bank for Microfinance - Asiamoney Best Bank Awards 2019 by Euromoney
 * Best Small Bank, Business Today – Money Today Financial Awards 2019
 * Best Self Service Banking Initiative, Application - The Asian Banker Financial Technology Innovation Awards by The Asian Banker