Bandhan Bank

Ba
বন্ধন ব্যাঙ্ক

"Aapka Bhala, Sabki Bhalai"
Type	Private
Industry	Banking, Financial services
Founded	2001
Founders	Chandra Shekhar Ghosh
Headquarters	Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Area served	India
Key people	Ashok Lahiri (Chairman) Chandra Shekhar Ghosh (MD, CEO)
Products	Agri Loans Micro Loans MSME Loans Retail Loans
Number of employees	22,000
Website	bandhanbank.com

Bandhan Bank Ltd. (Bengali: বন্ধন ব্যাঙ্ক) is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal.^[1] Bandhan, which started as a micro-finance company in 2001, received banking licence by Reserve Bank of India in 2014.^[2][3][4]

On 24 August 2015, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley officially inaugurated the bank in Kolkata. Initially it opened with 501 branches, 50 ATMs and 2,022 Door step Service Centres (DSCs) across India. Bandhan Bank was incorporated on 23 December 2014 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandhan Financial Holdings. Bandhan received the in-principle approval of the (RBI) for setting up a universal bank in April 2014; the banking regulator gave its final nod in June 2015.

Kolkata-headquartered Bandhan is the first bank to be set up in eastern part of India after Independence. Presently, Bandhan Bank has 3,284 touch points pan India consisting of 714 bank branches, 2,305 Doorstep Service Centres (DSCs) and 266 ATMs, serving more than 93 lakh customers.

Bandhan Financial Holdings is owned by Bandhan Financial Services Limited (BFSL), the largest micro finance organization in India. Its public shareholders include International Finance Corporation (IFC), Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Caladium Investment Pte. Ltd. (a company managed by GIC Special Investments Private Limited), Bandhan Employees Welfare Trust, and a few individuals.

Management

Bandhan Bank has Dr. Ashok Lahiri as Chairman. He has been the chief economic adviser to Government of India earlier. Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is the founder cum managing director and chief executive officer.^[5]

History

Founded in 2001, under the visionary leadership of Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, a senior Ashoka Fellow, BFSL is involved in giving loans to small borrowers who have no access to formal banking services. In past 15 years, BFSL has earned credibility and many accolades for financing small entrepreneurs and around 6.7 million women borrowers. The organization had a network of 2,022 branches spread across 22 Indian states and Union territories, serviced by over 15,000 employees. As on 31 March 2015, BFSL had a loan book of around ₹ 9,524 crore and an impressive repayment rate of over 99%.

Current State

The Kolkata-headquartered bank has two divisions—micro banking and general banking, offering a suite of retail financial solutions, including a variety of savings and loan products, with the core philosophy of financial inclusion. The bank has mobilized Rs. 18,000 crore deposits and its outstanding loan book is close to Rs. 17,915 crore . Bandhan Bank is run by a dedicated team of 22,000 employees. Recently, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Honourable President of India, graced Bandhan Bank's first anniversary function in Kolkata.

IT and operation support

The entire information technology (IT) function including the fully integrated banking, payment platform and backend support is outsourced by the bank to US-based Fidelity Information Services (FIS). As Bandhan’s technology partner, FIS will provide totally outsourced delivery model, encompassing core banking, channel solutions, treasury, trade finance and an entire suite of payments services that includes switching, debit card management and interbank network connectivity.^[6][7]

Investors

The RBI licensing norms stipulate that a new bank must have a ₹ 500 crore capital. Bandhan Bank starts with a capital base of ₹ 2,570 crore and this will be raised to ₹ 3,052 crore.^[8] Bandhan Financial Holdings is owned by Bandhan Financial Services Limited (BFSL), the largest micro finance organization in India. The major investors in the parent company of Bandhan Bank are International Finance Corporation (IFC), Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund GIC,^[9] Financial Inclusion Trust, North Eastern Financial Inclusion Trust, Bandhan Employees Welfare Trust and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).^[10][11]

External links

• Official website

References

1. "Bandhan to Focus on Deposits in Initial Years". NDTV. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
2. "Deserving the honour". Business Today. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
3. "Deserving the honour". Business Today. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
4. "Meet Bandhan CMD Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, the man who pipped Birlas and Ambanis for a bank license. Ashok Lahiri has benn appointed as its chairman.". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
5. "Bandhan appoints former chief economic adviser Ashok Lahiri as chairman". Retrieved 23 August 2015.
6. "Bandhan Bank may begin operations by early 2015".
7. "FIS to provide technology services to Bandhan Bank". Financial Express. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
8. "Bandhan Bank commences operation with loan book of Rs 10,500 cr". Retrieved 23 August 2015.
9. "Bandhan Bank gets fund commitment from GIC, IFC". DNA India. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
10. "MFIs' portfolio reaches historic high of Rs 35k cr". Business Standard. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
11. "IFC picks up close to 11% in MFI Bandhan Financial Services for Rs 135 crore". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 February 2015.