Ujjivan Small Finance Bank commences operations in Pune

Pune, May 03, 2017: Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd. today announced the commencement of its banking operations in Pune with the launch of four branches. These bank branches are located at key locations in Swargate, Pimpri, Akurdi and Hadapsar.  

Mr. Sanjiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Finservinaugurated the Swargate branch of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank earlier today.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (Ujjivan SFB )had commenced its banking operations in February 2017 with pilot branches in Bengaluru. Today, with 30 branches, Ujjivan SFB has established its presence across Bengaluru, Ramanagara, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Pune.

Over the period of eight years, Ujjivan has built a strong presence in Pune with 9 microfinance branches catering to over 83,000 customers. The existing Ujjivan customers in the State would be on-boarded as bank customers. The process of on-boarding over 17,600 microfinance customers has already been initiated, while the transition for the rest will take place in a phased manner.

Ujjivan has presence across 14 districts in Maharashtra with 51 branches, catering to over 3.65 lakh customers.

Speaking at the launch of Ujjivan SFB’s banking operations in Pune, Mr. Samit Ghosh, MD & CEO, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd. said, “After serving our customers as a microfinance entity for over eight years, I am pleased to now announce the launch of our banking operations in Pune today. In less than three months of our bank launch, we have established our presence across all four regions – South, North, East and West India. In the coming months, we will continue to increase our banking footprint across the country to serve the target customer segments.”

Speaking at the launch of Ujjivan SFB’s banking operations in Pune, Mr. Ittira Davis, Chief Operating Officer, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd. said, “At Ujjivan SFB, we are striving towards making banking more seamless and accessible for our customers and hence we have invested significantly on technology and digitization. Ujjivan SFB is offering savings bank account with no charges for minimum balance. Additionally, we are providing a whole host of benefits such as doorstep banking, mobile, internet and phone banking, access to biometric ATMs and Aadhar enabled debit cards. Aadhar enabled KYC facilitates paperless account opening in approximately 5-7 minutes using biometric authentication on a hand-held device. The device can also be used for cash deposits, withdrawals and fund transfers at the customer’s doorstep.”

The customers of Ujjivan SFB will have unlimited access to ATM transactions on Ujjivan’s ATM network and a total of six free transactions on other bank’s ATM networks, making this one of the highest free transactions offered by any bank, currently. 

Ujjivan SFB will also offer remittance services enabling customers to transfer money within Ujjivan and other bank accounts in a very reasonable and affordable manner. This has always been a key requirement of customers from this segment. Customers can also visit branches to avail this facility.

Ujjivan SFB branches have been specifically designed to be customer friendly with the philosophy of ‘always assisted’. The bank will be inviting customers on a facilitated guided tour where critical aspects of banking services will be explained and demonstrated. 

Ujjivan SFB has also launched a powerful, educational film on Financial Literacy titled‘Paison Ki ABCD’ in partnership with Parinaam Foundation, a non-profit organization. Financial Literacy of the economically deprived is the first step towards ensuring financial inclusion within India. With this aim, the film was curated under the direction of renowned Filmmaker, Mr. Pradeep Sarkar who has beautifully brought the vision and aspiration of Ujjivan SFB alive on celluloid.

Through this film, Ujjivan SFB and Parinaam Foundation intend to influence the mindset of consumers, eliminate the misconceptions about banking and educate them about the importance and benefits of a bank account. The film highlights how Ujjivan SFB will make the banking process simple, accessible for customers; strengthen their finances and set their future on a path of financial freedom.

Ujjivan SFB’s goal is to build a leading state of the art mass market bank in five years to serve the vast un-served and under-served customer base who currently are outside the formal banking system.