Kolkata-based Bandhan Financial Services Pvt Ltd has appointed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd as a consultant to advise in charting out the roadmap for its banking foray, according to a news report by Mint, citing a top executive of the company.
Bandhan chairman and managing director Chandra Shekhar Ghosh told the newspaper that the consultancy firm would help the company convert itself into bank.
In a recent interaction with VCCircle, Ghosh had said that the micro-lender is expected to hire a consultancy firm shortly to help it set up banking operations. He also talked about key challenges like deposit mobilisation and re-skilling staff as well as the firm’s plans going forward. For more, read here.
In April, Bandhan became one of the two firms that received in-principle approval to set up banking operations among 25 applicants, which included Reliance Capital Ltd, Aditya Birla Financial Services Group, Bajaj Finserv Ltd, L&T Finance Holdings Ltd, LIC Housing Finance Ltd and Muthoot Finance Ltd. IDFC Limited was the other firm that got in-principle approval to set up a bank.
The micro-lender was holding discussions with a bunch of consultancy firms, including McKinsey and Co, Boston Consulting Group, KPMG India and EY India.
The ‘in-principle’ approval granted to IDFC and Bandhan will be valid for 18 months during which the applicants have to comply with the requirements under the guidelines and fulfil other conditions that may be stipulated by the RBI.
Bandhan, which has attracted private investment of around $40 million from SIDBI and IFC, is the top microlender with a loan book of around $1 billion.
The company has a capital base of Rs 1,100 crore and 5.4 million borrowers. With an employee strength of 13,000, it operates through 2,016 branches in 22 states.
The last time RBI granted banking licence was 10 years ago when it allowed Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and Yes Bank Ltd to start operations.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
