Chennai: Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) managing director & CEO P N Vasudevan, who was instrumental in transforming the micro finance institution into an SFB, tendered his resignation on Thursday. He cited the board’s concerns over his daughter being a co-promoter of another NBFC. The development comes just two months after the SFB inaugurated its new corporate office in Chennai.In his resignation letter, which was disclosed by the SFB through the regulatory filing on Thursday, Vasudevan said, his daughter is the co-promoter of an NBFC, which received its licence from RBI in 2023. This point has been disclosed as required, to the board and RBI under various declarations, he added.“My being the MD of a bank and my daughter being the co-promoter of an NBFC are within the regulatory framework of the Banking Regulations Act. In my investor meetings over the past three years, I have been repeatedly asked about the perceived conflict of interest. In reality there is no conflict of interest, since there is no transaction at all between our bank and the NBFC (except one short term deposit about two and half years back, which was duly repaid on maturity). There are no other transactions including any loans by the bank to the NBFC,” he said.Despite his explanation to investors, he said, the perception of conflict continues to persist. “I am told by investors that this ‘overhang’ is causing the stock to underperform, impacting value creation for both shareholders and employees. Sometimes perceptions are stronger than reality. Under the circumstance, it is important that we remove the ‘overhang’ arising out of the perception issue. Accordingly, I would like to step down from the bank. I am sure that with this ‘overhang’ removed, the stock should reflect the financial strength of the bank, benefiting all stakeholders including employees,” he added.However, Vasudevan will continue as the MD & CEO of the SFB till a successor is appointed. The stock exchange filing further said the board took note of the resignation and agreed with the same. It may be recalled that it is the second resignation of the banking veteran, who put in his papers in May 2022, to pursue a distinct set of goals four years ago.Meanwhile, Equitas on Thursday reported an eight times growth in profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 218 crore in the quarter ended Sept 30, 2026, against Rs 24 crore in the same quarter last year.
