KOLKATA: Bharat Financial Inclusion (formerly SKS Microfinance) said it is looking to improve efficiency to reduce cost of funds while it would miss out on low-cost deposits unlike its rivals such as Janalakshmi Financial Services and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Bharat Financial fail to secure a small finance banking license while Janalakshmi is in the process of becoming one. Ujjivan has already launched small finance bank on February 6.Small finance banks have access to low cost public deposits which would help these entities reduce cost of fund in the long run."We would focus on efficiency. On the strength of our balance sheet we would probably get better cost of funding which we would pass on to the customer. So we do not see not becoming a bank as something as a showstopper," Bharat Financial Inclusion managing director MR Rao said.Bharat Financial offers loans at 19.75% a year, the lowest among all MFIs."In fact, the advantage for us is we can learn from them, they have become a bank, we are closely watching how they are going to make it," he said in an interview to ET Now.Ten financial services companies including eight MFIs got small bank licence."The fact that we did not get a banking licence was disappointing but it is not a game changer, it is not a deal breaker. We are 2-3% lower than Janalakshmi. We are also lower than Ujjivan at 19.75%. They have two-three years for them to raise their liabilities."