Forbes honours Bengal's micro credit firm

What started as a fledgling organisation five years ago at Konnagar in West Bengal has now bagged the honour of being the world's second largest micro finance institute after ASA in Bangladesh.

"Bandhan" has been listed second by prestigious business magazine Forbes, which ranks the Gramin Bank of Nobel Laureate Md Yunus of Bangladesh as 17th.

Driven by a dream to change the lives of people around him, Chandra Sekhar Ghosh, CEO of "Bandhan", tried to establish a micro credit association with NGOs in 2001, but it failed to take off.

"The endeavour could not gather momentum as NGOs, which work with national and internal funds were not ready to fund a micro credit venture," he said.

Ghosh began his career making sweets at his father's sweetmeat shop, but soon realised that this was not the way he could fulfill his plans.

"I realised that the poor need monetary support to increase their earnings so that they could provide food security for their children," said 48-year-old Ghosh, who is originally from a middle class family in Tripura before shifting to Konnagar in Hoogly district. Ghosh established "Bandhan" in the same year with the help of some friends.

"Initially most banks refused to give us loans as the company profile was small. Then a bank sanctioned a loan of Rs 200,000 in July 2002 and since then there has been no looking back," Ghosh said.

Bandhan now has over 800,000 beneficiaries through 425 branches and an outstanding loan of Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion).

The selection of beneficiaries is based on scale, efficiency, risk and returns. Currently "Bandhan" disburses loans amounting to Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) to 90,000 people a month.

"I wanted to change the socio-economic condition of the people around me. People have come to know me and I am honoured," he said.