Almost a decade ago, several founders and promoters of small finance banks applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a license to set up universal banks. However, barring two (one got merged with the biggest small finance bank and another got merged with a fintech), all managed to establish themselves only as a small finance bank. Their dreams got a boost recently when the RBI released the guidelines for voluntarily converting SFBs into universal banks. However, in the current situation, only two banks have met the eligibility criteria set by the RBI to become universal banks.