Bandhan Bank mobilizes Rs 5000 crore in deposits in four months

Bandhan Bank mobilizes Rs 5000 crore in deposits in four months

India's newest full service bank Bandhan Bank has mobilized over Rs 5000 crore in deposits in the first four month of its operations, its Managing Director Chandar Shekhar Ghosh told ET.

"If you see in the last six months there is no other example in the banking industry where 6 lakh new customers have been added, 600 branches have been opened and Rs 5000 crore deposits has been mobilized," Ghosh said at the inauguration of the bank's 600th branch in Mumbai.

Bandhan bank currently has an equity base of Rs 2700 crore and a capital adequacy ratio of 42%. The bank started with a loan book size of Rs 10,500 crore plans to end the year with a book size of Rs 13,000 crore. Bandhan Bank's base rate is 12% a tad higher than other banks.

Bandhan Bank is not eyeing corporate lending at the moment as it has over 74 lakh micro customers and plans to target a loan ticket size of Rs 5 - 25 lakh. "If you say 4.5% is the NPA why do you want to send me to that fireball, I don't want to burn my hands," Ghosh added. "Our total book size is nearly Rs 11000 crore, so if I am going to bank with big corporates at the moment my loans will go to only one or two corporates, so it's good for the bank to mitigate the risk. We should diversify our loan book but as of now we don't have any plans to lend to big corporates."

The bank commenced its operations on August 23, 2015, with 501 branches, 2,022 Door step Service Centres (DSCs) and 50 ATMs across 24 Indian states. Bandhan is the first bank to be set up in eastern India post-Independence. Currently, Bandhan Bank operates across 27 states through a network of 600 branches and 183 ATMs, being served by more than 20,000 employees.

The Kolkata-headquartered bank has two divisions -- micro banking and general banking, offering complete retail financial solutions, including a variety of savings and loan products. Currently, the savings bank account interest rate is 4.25% for balance up to Rs.1 lakh and 5% for balance above Rs.1 lakh. For term deposits, the maximum interest rate offered is 8.5 % for one to three years, with an additional 0.5% for senior citizens.