Having started its operations as an NGO in 1992 under the name of Evangelical Social Action Forum, ESAF Microfinance was a non-banking finance company and microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI), licensed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

It became a small finance bank in March 2017 and started operating in January 2018.

[4] Jacob Samuel, one of the co-founders, coined the name ESAF, which is an acronym for Evangelical Social Action Forum.

The initial president was Itty Mathew; J. Danabai was the vice president, Thomas was the secretary, supported by Samuel as joint secretary and Arun Ramakrishnan as treasurer.

[12][13] On 26 March 2020, the bank received approval from SEBI for issuing its ₹976 crore initial public offering.