Sachin Bansal’s Navi has a microfinance headache

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Editor's note: On 17 May last year, Navi Technologies’s chairman Sachin Bansal made a rare media appearance to announce his company’s maiden issuance of non-convertible debentures. The virtual press conference, though, was memorable for a different reason. While Bansal was telling journalists about the NCD issue, the Reserve Bank of India announced that his Navi Finserv’s wholly owned microfinance subsidiary Chaitanya India Fin Credit’s application for a  banking licence had been rejected.  Put on the spot, Bansal was forced to give a reaction. “We haven’t received written communication from the RBI yet,” the former Flipkart chief executive said, weighing his sentences carefully. “We are going to look at it once we get it, and then chart the next course of action. There are lots of options in front of us. It is not the end of the road. I mean, there are many things to explore including reapplying.” After a pause, Bansal added: “We have to go back and analyse this. We will consider whether we want to appeal this and weigh our options.” It seems now, almost a year later, that …