Product details

Bandhan Financial Services (Bandhan), was the first microfinance company in India to be granted a banking licence by the Reserve Bank of India, beating a number of big corporate groups. Started by Chandra Shekhar Ghosh (Ghosh) in 2001 in a small way, Bandhan had registered phenomenal growth to become the biggest microfinance company in India. With a focus on working with the ‘socially disadvantaged and economically exploited women,’ and with a goal to reach ‘1 crore poor households by 2020,’ many in the financial inclusion circles wondered what kind of bank Bandhan would create. There were also doubts as to how Bandhan would raise to the complexities of becoming a bank. Ghosh however was confident of his connect with his customers at the grassroots level and that his microfinance experience would stand him in good stead. In the banking circles, however, there was a lot of scepticism about how Bandhan bank would be able to cope with the complexities of adhering to the statutory norms, scaling-up, especially with respect to the workforce and adjusting to the cost pressures of banking operations. Against this backdrop, it remained to be seen how the Bandhan bank would evolve from the cradle of Microfinance.