Equitas Small Finance Bank on August 18, 2026, issued an Equitas SFB Unico clarification through a BSE filing, responding to contents of a Moneycontrol article concerning the bank's relationship with Unico Housing Finance Private Limited.

The bank said the term “nexus” used in the article could suggest transactions or a relationship that were not aligned with regulatory guidelines. It maintained that, apart from one deposit placed around two-and-a-half years ago in the normal course of business and on an arm's-length basis, there had been no transactions of any type between Equitas SFB and Unico, either before or after that deposit.

Equitas SFB also stated that it has not provided any loans to Unico and does not intend to do so in the future.

Bank specifies deposit terms

The filing provided the following details about the sole transaction between the two entities:

  • Unico placed a Rs 25 crore bulk deposit with Equitas SFB on January 1, 2024.
  • The deposit carried a tenure of 89 days and an interest rate of 7.5% per annum.
  • The bank said the applicable rate was the bulk-deposit rate prevailing on the booking date and published daily on its website.
  • The deposit was repaid upon maturity on March 30, 2024.

Equitas SFB said it had previously supplied these deposit details while answering an email from Moneycontrol about related-party transactions. According to the filing, its separate response that communications between the bank and the Reserve Bank of India were privileged and confidential related to a query seeking details of regulatory correspondence. Such matters, it said, are disclosed when required under RBI or SEBI guidelines.

Disclosure on MD and CEO's reappointment

The bank said MD and CEO P N Vasudevan had consistently disclosed his daughter's investment in Unico to the board through annual disclosures and at the time of his reappointment. It added that the investment was also disclosed to the RBI while submitting the reappointment proposals, and asserted that all disclosures required under applicable regulations had been made.

Addressing the legal provision cited in the article, Equitas SFB referred to proviso (c) to clause (4) of Section 10B of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The provision concerns substantial interest held by a bank managing director, individually or together with a spouse and minor child, in another company. The bank stated that P N Vasudevan is compliant with this provision.

The clarification was submitted under Regulation 30 of the SEBI Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2015, and signed by company secretary N Ramanathan.

Source: BSE corporate announcement.