Fourteen non-bank financial institutions have expressed interest in being lenders for the nanofinance scheme, says a senior Bank of Thailand official.
Ronadol Numnonda, an assistant governor of the supervision group, said the non-bank institutions had filed queries to the central bank about application documents and the submission procedure.
The scheme is one of the government's efforts to address the problem of underground loans faced by low-income earners who cannot access formal lenders.
"We are also looking at the capability of other lenders whose businesses are mainly in major provinces," said Mr Ronadol.
He said there was no limit to the number of applicants but selection would be based on their financial experience and policies.
Operators with registered capital from 50 million baht will be eligible to become "nano" financial institutions under central bank criteria, with their debt-to-equity ratio not exceeding seven times their registered capital. If operators' ratios exceed the stipulated threshold, they will have to reach the specified ratio by Jan 23, 2016.
Commercial banks and registered institutions can operate the nanofinance scheme immediately without seeking permission from the finance minister, but non-bank lenders have to gain the minister's approval following their application.
Interest rates for nanofinance will be capped at 3% per month, or 36% a year, with the principal not exceeding 100,000 baht in each case.
Mr Ronadol said the main purposes of the nanofinance scheme was to integrate informal debtors into the formal financial system and to provide loans for use related to borrowers' professions.
About 600,000 households in Thailand are borrowers in the informal sector, while 1.3 million households cannot gain access to the formal loan system, according to a central bank study in 2013.
Applications for the scheme opened on Monday and no deadline has been set by the central bank.