Bandhan Bank founder Chandra Shekhar Ghosh to step down in July, shares fall 6.5%

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, the founder, MD and CEO of Bandhan Bank has announced he will be retiring from his role at the end of his tenure on July 09, 2024 after having led the bank for almost a decade. In a filing to the stock exchanges, Ghosh indicated in his resignation letter that the time has now come for him to assume a larger strategic role at the group level.

“I feel happy to leave behind a strong franchise in the hands of a capable leadership team, many of whom have partnered me in building the organization, brick by brick, sharing the same vision and values,” Ghosh said.

The veteran banker also detailed the history of Bandhan bank and what prompted him to leave a stable job to start an NGO.

“I am neither an economist nor a banker. I am a pure NGO worker. While working on the ground, I learnt a lot, especially from the bottom of the pyramid. These learnings helped me understand the real situation of the underprivileged people. Hence, with the objective of helping the deprived and underbanked section of the society, 23 years back, I decided to quit my stable job and do something of my own,” Ghosh described.

In 2001, Ghosh started Bandhan as an NGO, with his own savings, contributions from some relatives and borrowings from moneylenders, to meet the dual objective of women empowerment and poverty alleviation. In 2015, it became the first ever microfinance institution to become a universal bank in India and the first private sector bank to be set up from eastern India after independence.

At the end of March 2024, the bank’s advances grew by 17.8% year-over-year to ₹1.25 lakh crore while its deposits increased 25.1% y-o-y to ₹1.35 lakh crore. Its current account savings account (CASA) ratio, however, fell to 37.1% as of March 2024 compared to 39.3% in the same period a year ago.