Operations will begin in around 22 states.
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“From a borrower to a bank…this is our journey”, said Ghosh, referring to the funds, which Bandhan borrowed from the banks since it could not take deposits as an MFI.
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Kolkata: Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s view that the country would not grow unless the eastern states prospered, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said political differences between BJP and Trinamool Congress will not come in the way of development of West Bengal. “The markets will settle down”, he said.
According to a release from the bank, this figure will soon be raised to 30.5 billion rupees (US$458.4 million), translating into a risk-weighted asset ratio of 44.54 percent, according to Bandhan.
Earlier, after inaugurating a two-day annual conference of chief commissioners and director generals of Central Board of Excise and Customs here, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that India is facing multiple challenges emanating from global developments, but continues to stand by its growth projections made at the beginning of2015.
The minister also said agriculture had a great prospect in Bengal as the state was blessed with lot of water.
The bank commenced operations with 1.43 crore accounts, a loan book of Rs 10,500 crore and over 19,500 permanent employees. “Existing ones were shifting out”, Mr Jaitley said at the Bandhan Bank launch here Sunday. “The need of the hour is to focus on cost minimization and customer convenience, digital literacy, partnership to cooperate and compete with other banks, and provide protection to customers by having a holistic approach towards banking”.
Ghosh started-off managing his family sweet shop in Bishalgarh near Tripura capital Agartala before studying in Bangladesh and working with BRAC, after which he moved to West Bengal and started Bandhan as a micro-credit entity.
“Bengal is known for producing several intellectuals, but no entrepreneurs”. The eastern states, including eastern UP, Bihar, WB, Orissa and the north-eastern states have the potential to raise the GDP rate of India.
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Attributing the Left Front policies for Bandhan’s growth into a bank from a microfinance institution, Communist Party of India-Marxist MP Mohammad Salim slammed Jaitley for his barbs. We just have to work on these factors. “Bandhan Bank is the first to be off the block as new changes happen in the country’s finance and banking field”, Uday Kotak, executive VC and MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said on the eve of the inauguration.
