Bandhan Bank opens 125 banking outlets after RBI lifts restrictions

Days after the Reserve Bank of India lifted restrictions on Bandhan Bank to open branches, the bank on Wednesday said that it has opened 125 banking outlets across 15 states. With this, the number of bank's branches stands at 1,013. The banking outlets also include doorstep banking units and home loan service centres.  With the  new addition, the total number of banking outlets now stands at 4,414. The bank has its presence across 34 of the 36 states and union territories in India.

Out of the 125 new banking outlets, 42 have been opened in Uttar Pradesh, 29 in Rajasthan, 12 in Madhya Pradesh, 7 each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 6 in Bihar, 5 in Chhattisgarh, 4 in Orissa, 3 in Tamil Nadu, 2 each in Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Assam, and 1 each in Delhi and West Bengal.

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, MD & CEO, Bandhan Bank, said, "With the withdrawal of restriction on opening new branches, we will be able to expand business growth rapidly. In our four-and-a-half-year existence as a universal bank, we have been quick to identify opportunities of expanding distribution and setting up our presence.”

As of December 31, 2019, Bandhan Bank had 19 million customers, deposits worth Rs.54,908 crore and advances worth Rs.65,456 crore. The total business of the Bank stood at Rs.1,20,364 crore.

In 2018, RBI barred Bandhan Bank from opening new branches without its approval and ordered it to freeze Ghosh's salary at the existing level over its failure to meet shareholding rules. A few months back, Bandhan Bank completed the merger of Gruh Finance with it, which reduced promoters’ stake to 61 per cent from 82 per cent. According to RBI’s bank licensing guidelines, the bank’s promoter has to have a stake not more than 40 per cent within three years of commencing the business. The deadline for Bandhan Bank was on August 23, 2018.