'We want to usher in a new era in Indian banking'

Bandhan Bank is the first one to be launched in eastern India post Independence

“It is the most important day of my life,” said Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, founder, managing director and chief executive officer of Bandhan, as he addressed an august crowd that had gathered at Kolkata’s Science City Auditorium on Sunday to mark the inauguration of Bandhan Bank.

Bandhan Bank is the first bank to be launched in eastern India post Independence.

Its journey has been a long and arduous one.

Ghosh started this micro-lending unit in 2001 with only two employees at Bagnan in Howrah district.

He had a meagre capital of Rs 200,000.

A special feather was added to Bandhan’s cap when Reserve Bank of India gave it in-principle approval to start a new bank last year.

Bandhan scored over 23 other applicants, including biggies like Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital, Aditya Birla Group, and Larsen & Toubro.

On the day of inauguration, Bandhan Bank launched 501 branches across India, 2022 service centres and 50 automated teller machines.

The bank at present has 19,500 employees.

Bandhan plans to have 632 branches and 250 ATMs all over the country by the end of fiscal 2016.

At present, Bandhan’s portfolio stands at Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).

On the very first day of operation, Bandhan Bank had 1.43 crore (14.3 million) accounts and about Rs 10,500 crore (Rs 105 billion) in its loan book, Ghosh informed the gathering.

“My path of struggle was lengthy and tough and winning was my only option", he had told rediff.com during an earlier interview.

“The only other alternative was to commit suicide as I had put everything at stake for Bandhan”, he had said.

These thoughts must have crossed Ghosh’s mind while he spoke to a full-to-the brim auditorium.

“Our business philosophy is customer first. We are a universal bank and we will have equal respect for all our customers -- big and small,” Ghosh said.  

“Today, all of us in the Bandhan family are rededicating ourselves to fulfil the demand of every Indian -- banking as a fundamental right.

“We are committed to usher in a new era in Indian banking”, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley said, “West Bengal is known for producing several intellectuals, but no entrepreneurs. The launch of Bandhan Bank will not just boost the growth of Bangla entrepreneurs but signify the return of entrepreneurs to West Bengal.

“The eastern states, including eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and the north-eastern states have the potential to raise the gross domestic product of India,” Jaitley said.

Though the political ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre and the Trinamool-Congress led government in West Bengal continues to differ, that would not stand in the way of Centre lending its support and assistance to the Bengal government, the Union Finance Minister asserted.  

Amit Mitra, finance minister of West Bengal, said, “Bandhan started with the twin objectives of women empowerment and poverty eradication. With a repayment record of 99 per cent, the organisation has been successful in its objectives. Now, the challenge for Bandhan Bank is to push Bengal’s credit deposit rate from 68 per cent to the national average of over 76 per cent.”

H R Khan, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, said, “Bandhan Bank has been born at a challenging time of the Indian economy. With 11 payment banks and two universal banks being added to this sector, banking space in India is getting crowded.

“The need of the hour is to focus on cost minimisation and customer convenience, digital literacy, partnership to cooperate and compete with other banks, and provide protection to customers.”

Dignitaries who adorned the inauguration in Kolkata included -- Atiur Rehman, governor, Bangladesh Central Bank; S K Roy, chairman, Life Insurance Corporation of India; Y C Deveshwar, chairman, ITC Limited; Ashish Kumar Chauhan, managing director and chief executive officer of Bombay Stock Exchange; Chitra Ramkrishna, managing director and chief executive officer of National Stock Exchange; Uday Kotak, vice chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited; Arun Kaul, chairman of Indian Banks’ Association; Onno Ruhl, country director, World Bank India; Maverick Wong, managing director and Asia head of GIC, Singapore; Alemayehu Mengistu, South Asia director of International Finance Corporation; Ksharapati Shivaji, chairman, Small Industries Development Bank of India and Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

Photographs: Ritija Halder