The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) will scale up the business of its microfinance arm Nabard Financial Services (Nabfins) to become a national-level player. Nabfins, a 68% non-banking finance subsidiary of Nabard, consolidated its operations in southern states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and expanded in Maharashtra in 2013-14. Harsh Bhanwala, chairman, Nabard, said Nabfins would become an all-India organisation. It has identified areas in Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh for starting operations. Nabfins lends money to self-help groups and works on thin margins, with lending rates in the range of 15-16.75% against the RBI cap of 26%. It reported net profit of Rs 18 crore in FY14 up from Rs 8.42 crore in 2012-13.
