Bandhan Bank eyeing expansion in 'deposit pockets' of states

The ten months old Bandhan Bank is eying expansion to deposit pockets of states and focus on opening more small format branches, a top bank official said on Friday.

"We will expand our branch network in the deposit pockets of states. We now have 670 branches and plan to increase these to 850 by the end of the current fiscal," Bandhan Bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Chandra Shekhar Ghosh said on the sidelines of an event related to cyber security here.

Most of the deposit pockets are in the metros, he said.

He said the bank has already opened 21 small format branches and planned to open 17 more in a month or two in West Bengal.

"In order to reduce operational costs, we have designed these small format branches run by three employees. We are getting good response in such branches functioning as an alternative to automated teller machines," he said.

The bank has garnered about Rs 14,000 crore in deposits so far, he said.

The private lender reported a net profit of over Rs 275 crore over seven months and seven days of the 2015-16 fiscal.

During the period under review, the Kolkata-based bank -- which started operations in August 2015 -- posted a total income of Rs 1,082 crore. Its net interest income (NII) stood at Rs 932.72 crore.

"We have started lending to micro, small and medium enterprises and to other sectors like warehouses, two- and four wheelers etc.," he said.

--IANS

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