Sam Ghosh, who led Reliance Capital for nine years until 2017, has applied for a Small Finance Bank (SFB) licence on behalf of his company Cosmea Financial participations. Ghosh is involved in financial services and, with the support of private equity investors, is pursuing various opportunities, including the sale of investment company Dependence Capital as part of a debt restructuring plan.
The RBI announced the names of applicants for a small finance bank licence on Monday. Along with Cosmea, Tally Solutions has applied for a banking licence. Tally Solutions is synonymous with accounting software in India. Businesses across India and in over 100 countries rely on tally’s products and services.
The asset monetization process at Reliance Capital is guided by the Bondholders Committee and Bond Trustee Vistra ITCL India, which collectively hold 93 percent of the company’s debt.
Ghosh, according to sources close to him, was bidding on RCap assets. The finance professional wishes to establish a new financial services company or to acquire an existing one. The application for an SFB is a component of the strategy for establishing new businesses.
Cosmea stated in response to an inquiry, “We confirmed our application for a small finance bank.” We are a private equity-backed company, and the licence is consistent with Cosmea’s strategy of building a strong multi-business presence in the BFSI sector. At this time, we are unable to provide additional information.
Ghosh arrived in India as a representative for German insurer Allianz, where he led the general joint venture and later the general insurance joint venture with Bajaj. He became CEO of Reliance Capital in 2008. He played a critical role in expanding the life and non-life insurance businesses and in forming a partnership with Nippon Life. He left the group in 2017 to join the Bharti group’s financial services business. Ghosh left Bharti in 2019 to pursue his plans in financial services.
