File photo | Photo Credit: BCCL

New Delhi: Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, who pumped about Rs 650 crore into ride-hailing company Ola earlier this week, is poised to foray into the Indian financial services sector, says an Economic Times report citing two people aware of the development. The billionaire has been in talks with financial experts on the potential to launch a new venture in the fintech sector that has attracted investments from Chinese company Alibaba to Tokyo-based investment conglomerate Soft-Bank.

The financial daily mentioned that Sachin Bansal met some officials at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to find out the regulatory needs to be eligible to start a bank.



“Given the role that financial services play in the economy, it is one of the options we are looking at, it’s a business area we are exploring,” Sachin Bansal told ET in an email reply. “At this stage, saying anything beyond that would be inappropriate … it would also be premature to talk about the hows and whys while we are still at an exploratory stage.”



Sachin Bansal, 37, who founded Flipkart over a decade ago with Binny Bansal, had quit the digital retail behemoth after the US-based retail titan had picked up a 77 per cent stake in the Bengaluru-based online retail company for USD 16 billion in May 2018. It was reported that Sachin Bansal received USD 1 billion by selling his 5 per cent stake in Flipkart. According to the report, the billionaire has been evaluating a series of options including that of building a bank.



As per the banking regulator norms, to be eligible for a banking licence, the promoters must bring in equity of at least Rs 500 crore and have the experience of successfully running a business venture for at least 10 years.



The publication quoted one of the unnamed people as saying, “He has sought advice from financial experts and has also informally consulted officials from the Reserve Bank of India on the plan to build a bank.”