Anshul Swami was appointed as MD & CEO of Shivalik Small Finance Bank. As per…

Concept

A Small Finance Bank (SFB) is a differentiated, niche bank licensed by the RBI to extend credit and basic banking services to underserved segments — small businesses, marginal farmers, the unorganised sector and low-income households. Because it accepts public deposits, the RBI prescribes a minimum paid-up voting equity capital (net worth) floor as an entry-and-soundness threshold, and periodically revises this floor as it consolidates the licensing framework.

Applying the rule

Under the Reserve Bank of India (Small Finance Banks – Licensing) Guidelines, 2025 — which took effect on 28 November 2025 and superseded the earlier 2019 on-tap licensing guidelines — the minimum paid-up voting equity capital / net worth for a standalone Small Finance Bank is fixed at Rs. 300 crore, which must be readily available at the time the banking licence is granted. The promoter must still hold at least 40% of the paid-up equity in the initial five years, and the bank must maintain a capital adequacy ratio of at least 15% of risk-weighted assets.

Cross-check / contrast

• Rs. 100 crore — the floor under the original 2014 SFB guidelines; it no longer applies as a standalone threshold today.

• Rs. 200 crore — the figure fixed by the 2019 on-tap licensing guidelines; this was the prevailing norm until it was superseded by the 2025 guidelines.

• Rs. 400 crore — not a capital floor RBI has prescribed for Small Finance Banks at any stage of the licensing framework.

• Rs. 500 crore — the capital floor once associated with a full-service private-sector (universal) bank; RBI's 2025 Universal Banks Licensing Guidelines have since raised even that figure to Rs. 1,000 crore, so it does not match either category any more.