Yes Bank to add 5,000 customers this year

"We would take the urban micro-finance operations from three branches, presently, to five by the fiscal-end while the wholesale-lending under microfinance is also poised to grow fast, "Yes Bank's Corporate Finance and Development Banking President, Somak Ghosh, told reporters here.     

The bank, presently, has alliances with 25-30 NGOs and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) under its wholesale microfinance programme and about 700 customers under the direct micro-lending initiatives in urban-areas.     
The bank disbursed around Rs 160 crore to NGOs and MFIs under microfinance, as on March 31, 2008,while the figure is expected to go upto Rs 320-350 crore by the fiscal-end, Ghosh said.     

 

Also, the total number of branches, which presently stands at 67, is expected to grow upto 117 by March 31, 2009.     

Yes Bank today launched a new initiative-Yes Community -underwhich the lender would support NGOs to organise projects to prevent pollution, waste recycling, water and energy conservation amongst others, Ghosh said.     

The bank would expend around Rs 50,000 per branch in every month to execute such initiatives under the programme, Ghosh said.      

The events would be organised over weekends at the bank's retail branches by engaging with people from all age groups and has appointed senior officials to oversee the implementation, Ghosh said.