Merger with Gruh Finance will take a year: Bandhan Bank CEO C S Ghosh

We are present in affordable housing segment, but the scale is very small. To grow in this segment, we found value in Gruh, says Ghosh

Bandhan Bank’s acquisition of Gruh Finance, the HDFC group’s affordable housing finance arm, will take it closer to the Reserve Bank of India’s promoter shareholding norm, which caps it at 40 per cent within three years’ of starting operation. The bank now has to reduce it to 20 per cent. C S Ghosh, managing director and chief executive officer of Bandhan Bank, talks to Namrata Acharya about the merger, tweaking its shareholding structure, growing its loan book and focus on small and medium enterprise (SMEs). Edited excerpts:

What is your long-term vision?

There is a substantial population in India which is still