Bandhan (meaning togetherness) was born in 2001 under the leadership of Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, a Senior Ashoka Fellow. The main thrust of Bandhan is to work with women who are socially disadvantaged and economically exploited, for their social upliftment and economic emancipation. With this aim in view, Bandhan is mainly engaged in MF activities with target women residing in rural and urban areas across the country.

Bandhan commenced group-based microfinance operations in West Bengal in July 2002. Presently, all microfinance activities are carried under Bandhan Financial Services Private Limited (BFSPL), incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and also registered as a Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Presently, Bandhan has a microfinance client base of 2 million spread across 14 states of India with a Rs.1000 crore loan portfolio. Started from a small village, Bagnan (60 km away from Kolkata, West Bengal) in July 2002, Bandhan has today travelled to some of the major states of India. During its early years, Bandhan’s primary focus has been on Eastern India (West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Meghalaya), which comprise some of the most economically disadvantaged states in the country. Bandhan has recently expanded to Mumbai and Delhi thereby expanding its outreach to Western and Northern India. It is at present operating in Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttarkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Bandhan’s commitment towards double bottom-line values is strongly asserted by its intervention in development activities. It believes that Microfinance is not the last word for development of the poor. Aspiring to holistic development of poor, Bandhan supports development activities (health, education, livelihoods) through its society entity. Besides, Bandhan has a program exclusively for the hard core poor (generally believed to be bypassed by microfinance).

Over the years, Bandhan has been felicitated by numerous awards and honours, in recognition of its impressive efforts in eradicating poverty and empowering women through the process of financial inclusion. In December 2007, Forbes magazine ranked Bandhan as the best performing MFI in India and the second best in the world. Bandhan was the only Indian MFI and one of the two Asian MFIs featuring in the top 10 MFIs globally. Bandhan has also been honored with the Skoch Challenger Award for financial inclusion in 2008 and the Pro Poor Innovation Challenge (PPIC) Award by The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), an affiliate of the World Bank in 2006. Very recently, it won the 'Microfinance India Award 2009' under the category 'Institution of the Year'.