Utkarsh Small Finance Bank (USFB), a microlender backed by RBL Bank, has begun work on its IPO, which is expected to be around Rs 500 crore, reported LiveMint.

“The bank is presently in the process of appointing investment banks for its proposed IPO, which is expected to be around Rs 500 crore in size," a person familiar with the matter was quoted as saying in the report. The lender mainly gives microfinance loans in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The financial institution, the report said, was established back in 2009 and ‘counts CDC Group Plc, the development finance institution of the UK government, as its largest shareholder holding a 14 percent stake.’

The development comes after Utkarsh Coreinvest received a small finance bank (SFB) licence from the RBI in 2016 and started operations as an SFB in January 2017, the report said. And with RBI norms mandating SFBs to list within three years of the launch of their operations, it has until January to go public, the report said.