India's Axis Bank to invest $162 million in consumer lending arm
India's Axis Bank will invest 15 billion rupees ($162.28 million) in its consumer lending arm, Axis Finance, the country's third-largest private lender said on Wednesday.
In January, Reuters reported that the lender was rethinking a stake sale in Axis Finance after the central bank eased its rules on overlapping activities between banks and their subsidiaries, directing lenders to ring-fence such operations from their core banking business.
In their original form, the rules would have likely forced large banks, including HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, to either merge or divest non-bank lending businesses held as subsidiaries.
Axis Bank, which has invested 23.75 billion rupees in Axis Finance over the past decade, plans to complete the infusion by March 2027 through a cash consideration in one or more tranches, the statement added.
Axis Finance, registered as a non-bank finance company, will submit a revised growth plan to the bank's board in April and will reevaluate its capital-raising needs thereafter.
As of March 31, 2025, it had assets under management of 415.83 billion rupees.
($1 = 92.4350 Indian rupees)
