Kadambelil Paul Thomas

K. Paul Thomas is the Founder of the ESAF group of social enterprises, which includes the ESAF Small Finance Bank. He is currently the Managing Director and CEO of the Bank, which was formed in 2017. The Bank now has a pan-India presence with over 821 banking outlets across 24 states and two union territories in India and reaches out to more than 10 million customers.
He founded ESAF as a non-profit society in 1992 by organizing neighbourhood women into Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Since its inception, ESAF has helped promote the socio-economic transformation of some of the most backward regions of India through interventions in financial inclusion and livelihood generation. Shri. Paul is an ardent advocate of servant leadership and bottom-up governance.
Under his leadership, ESAF became a member of the World Fair Trade Organisation, a global community of social enterprises that practice Fair Trade. ESAF Small Finance Bank also became the first Indian bank to join the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV).
His contributions have been recognised at various forums and have won him accolades and recognition at local, regional, national and international platforms. He is the recipient of the SKOCH Award for Financial Inclusion and the Karma Ratna Award for exemplary contributions to the Kerala Society.
Recently, he was conferred with the Icon of Sustainability Award during the 4th Biennial Global Convention of the World Malayalee Federation (WMF) in Bangkok.
He was conferred the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by TIE, Kerala. He has also won the Atal Pension Yojana Big Believers Award 3.0 for the Best Performing MD and CEO and the Kozhikode Management Association’s Management Leadership Award 2022. Recently, he was honoured with the FE Pillar of the BFSI Industry Award at the Financial Express Modern BFSI Summit. He has also won the Circle of Excellence Exemplary Award of Par Excellence instituted by the PFRDA. Under his guidance, the Bank has received the Makers of Excellence Award instituted by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority and the Inclusive Finance India Award 2022, an initiative of ACCESS Development Services in partnership with HSBC India as well as the Innovative Bank of the Year Award. The bank also received an honourable mention in the Global SME Finance Awards 2021, organised by the International Finance Corporation.
He is currently the Chairman of Sa-Dhan, a pan-India association of Community Finance in India. He was the Chairman of the CII Kerala chapter and the immediate Past President of the Thrissur Management Association. He was also a board member of various institutions, including the Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN). He holds a master's degree in Business Administration from Annamalai University.