Bandhan Banking Transformation

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The proposed project involves an equity investment in (i) Bandhan Financial Services Limited (“BFSL” or “Bandhan”) which is an existing IFC investee and (ii) Bandhan Bank, which is expected to start banking operations pursuant to the receipt of in-principle approval by BFSL to start banking operations and fulfillment of all the conditions in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India’s (“RBI”) guidelines for licensing of new banks. BFSL, which is currently registered as an NBFC-MFI is India’s largest microfinance institution in terms of number of borrowers and portfolio outstanding. BFSL is headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal with a borrower base of more than 6.1 million women borrowers and a loan portfolio of approximately INR78,100 million (US$1.3 billion equivalent).The proposed project intends to support the transformation of Bandhan to become a universal bank focused on low income households. Bandhan, by transforming into a Bank proposes to expand and diversify its operations to include a range of products such as savings, remittances, payments etc. and proposes to gradually build one of the finest micro, retail and SME banking platforms in the country with a specific focus on the under-banked population.