About us:

Poverty and inequality mutually reinforce and breed the degeneration of a society. The world's largest democratic republic faces a long and demanding struggle to eradicate the evil of glaring socio-economic disparity which can destroy the very fabric of democracy, if left unchecked.

It is this disparity that we, at Bandhan, aim at fighting through sustainable planned intervention. Born out of a meeting of conscientious minds with a desire for the common good, Bandhan (meaning togetherness) was formed with a vision of creating an equal and just society, by alleviating poverty.

Bandhan is working towards the twin objective of poverty alleviation and women empowerment. It started as a Capacity Building Institution (CBI) in November 2000 under the leadership of Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh. During such time, it was giving capacity building support to local microfinance institutions working in West Bengal. But, while we were doing this, we realized that direct implementation into microfinance was important.

Bandhan opened its first microfinance branch at Bagnan in Howrah district of West Bengal in July 2002. Bandhan started with 2 branches in the year 2002-03 only in the state of West Bengal and today it has grown as strong as 670 branches across 10 states of the country! The organization had recorded a growth rate of 500% in the year 2003-04 and 611% in the year 2004-05. Till date, it has disbursed a total of Rs. 1,759 crores among almost 13 lakh poor women. Loan outstanding stands at Rs. 547 crores. The repayment rate is recorded at 99.88%. Bandhan has staff strength of more than 3,980 employees.