Bandhan Bank
Bandhan Bank Ltd. is an Indian banking and financial services company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal.Bandhan, which started as a micro-finance company in 2001, received banking licence by Reserve Bank of India in 2014.
On 24 August 2015, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley officially inaugurated the bank in Kolkata. Initially it opened with 501 branches across India. Bandhan Bank was incorporated on 23 December 2014 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandhan Financial Holdings. Bandhan received the in-principle approval of the (RBI) for setting up a universal bank in April 2014; the banking regulator gave its final nod in June 2015.
Incidentally, Kolkata-headquartered Bandhan is the first bank to be set up in eastern part of India after Independence.
Bandhan Financial Holdings is owned by Bandhan Financial Services Limited (BFSL), the largest micro finance organization in India. Its public shareholders include International Finance Corporation (IFC), Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Caladium Investment Pte. Ltd. (a company managed by GIC Special Investments Private Limited), Bandhan Employees Welfare Trust, and a few individuals.
The RBI licensing norms stipulate that a new bank must have a ₹ 500 crore capital. Bandhan Bank starts with a capital base of ₹ 2,570 crore and this will be raised to ₹ 3,052 crore.
Bandhan Bank has Dr. Ashok Lahiri as Chairman. He has been the chief economic adviser to Government of India earlier. While the founder, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is the managing director and chief executive officer.
The major investors in the parent company of Bandhan Bank are International Finance Corporation (IFC), Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund GIC, Financial Inclusion Trust, North Eastern Financial Inclusion Trust, Bandhan Employees Welfare Trust and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
Infrastructure Development Finance Company
IDFC Bank Ltd. is an Indian banking company with headquarters in Mumbai that forms part of IDFC, an integrated infrastructure finance company. The bank started operations on 1 October 2015. IDFC received a universal banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in July 2015. On 6th November, 2015, IDFC Bank was listed on BSE and NSE.
IDFC was incorporated on 30 January 1997 with its registered office in Chennai and started operations on 9 June 1997. In 1998 the company registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a non-banking financial company and in 1999 it formally became a Public Financial Institution.
To conform with RBI guidelines IDFC founded a non-operative financial holding company (NOFHC) in 2014 to manage its five subsidiaries IDFC Bank, IDFC MF, IDFC Alternatives, IDFC IDF & IDFC Securities. IDFC is the holding company for NOFHC IDFC Projects Ltd and IDFC Foundation.
IDFC Bank started operations with 23 branches in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. 15 branches are in settlements with a population of less than 10,000.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally launched IDFC Bank on 19 October 2015.
The bank serves corporate and private customers in India including the infrastructure sector that IDFC specialized in from its founding in 1997. The bank also aims to provide services to people in rural areas and to the self-employed.
