Our reach as on December 2011
- States & Union Territories - 18
- Branches - 1,553
- Borrowers - 33,88,317
- Staff - 9,441
- Loan disbursed for the month -
Rs. 594crores - Loan outstanding - Rs. 3,177 crores
States & Union Territories and Branches
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Bandhan a grant or loan funded organisation?
- What is the operational methodology of Bandhan?
- What is the economic and social background of the clients?
- Landless and asset less women
- Monthly income less than Rs. 3,500 in rural areas, less than Rs. 5,000 in small towns and less than Rs. 7,000 in big cities and metros
- Those who do not own more than 50 decimal (1/2acre) of land or capital of its equivalent value
- Does the intervention focus on any particular Income Generating Activity?
- Why does Bandhan primarily target women?
- What is the recruitment policy?
- How accountable and transparent is Bandhan as an organization?
Bandhan is very transparent and accountable to its various stakeholders. Every year, different rating agencies of high repute assess Bandhan on various grounds. Over the years we have been assessed by M-CRIL, CRISIL, CARE and the like.
- How strong is the monitoring system of Bandhan?
- A 3 tier monitoring system – Region, Division and Head Office
- Easy reporting system with a prescribed checklist format
- Accountability at all levels post monitoring phase
- Cross- checking at all the levels
- The senior operations personnel spend most of the time at the field
- What are your future plans?
- What measures does Bandhan take for the capacity building of the staff?
- Inspite of growing so fast, how does Bandhan manage to be so cost effective?
- What is the liability structure for the loans? Is there joint liability?
- Does Bandhan offer any grace period to the clients?
The microfinance activities of Bandhan are supported by loan funding from the banks and financial institutions. We are working with 30 different banks including nationalized, private and foreign banks and also financial institutions. There is no grant funding for the microfinance operations. Bandhan is of the view that sustainability is very important for the survival of any organization but dependence on the grant funds restricts sustainability.
Bandhan follows a group formation, individual lending approach. A group of 10-20 members are formed. The clients have to attend the group meetings for 2 successive weeks. 2 weeks hence, they are entitled to receive loans. The loans are disbursed individually and directly to the members.
The loans extended by Bandhan are to be utilized towards income generating activities viz. agriculture, zari work, embroidery, animal husbandry, crafts work, small cottage industries, small trading, vegetable vending, fishing, poultry, rice husking, horticulture, manufacture of surgical instruments, pottery, small services, small businesses etc.
Bandhan was set up to address the dual objective of poverty alleviation and women empowerment. The sole solution to it lay in focusing on increasing the family income through women which in turn gradually helps to increase the status of the woman in the family as well as in the society. Her confidence and decision making power also gets enhanced, her conjugal life improves. There is no second thought on the fact that women are better money managers.
Bandhan has got a very swift recruitment procedure. We advertise in the local daily. The received applications are scanned, sorted and eligible candidates are called for the interview. The entire recruitment process takes place on a single day. Before leaving for the day, the selected candidates are handed over their appointment letters. The incumbents are then sent for a 3 days In Service Orientation (ISO) course. Upon successful completion of the ISO, they are posted at respective branches.
The various features of the monitoring system are:
As of now, Bandhan is looking at a pan India coverage in order to reach out to the unreached. We are even open to diversifying/modifying our products as per the needs of the clients. The organization is driven by a well-defined vision statement of being a world - class international microfinance institution serving 8 million clients by March 2014.
Since the inception of Bandhan, training has been considered an important strategy to build the capacity of the staff. Bandhan has an independent training cell comprising of 30 trainers. The training imparted is participatory, learner-centric, problem-focused, need-oriented, promoting individual involvement and group interaction. The training modules are developed from the perspective of the participants’ needs. These courses are continuously upgraded to meet the emerging needs of the various programs of the organization. Often outside resource people with extensive experience are also invited to take certain courses. The senior operations personnel viz. Deputy General Managers, Divisional Managers and others also play the role of a trainer. Group leadership trainings are also imparted to the group leaders at regular intervals.
Bandhan believes in achieving the maximum output through minimum cost. Bandhan follows this in letter and spirit. Costs at the branch are kept at the minimum without compromising on the quality of service offered. Standardization, simplification, less of paper work etc helps to minimize cost.
Bandhan delivers microfinance activities through the model of ‘Individual lending through group formation’. When a member wants to join Bandhan, she at first has to get inducted into a group. Upon induction, the entire group proposes her name for a loan. A member becomes eligible to receive the loan only after completing two weeks of membership. Apart from the borrower’s husband, two other ladies of the group have to sign as guarantors in her loan application form.
In case any borrower fails to pay her installment, the group inserts peer pressure on her. However, there is no such compulsion on the other members of the group to make up for her missed installment. The field learning has been that the borrowers who are unable to pay their installment due to some genuine reason generally receive mutual help from the others in the group. The idea behind adopting the ‘Individual lending through group formation’ model is basically for solidarity purpose and peer pressure.
Yes, a grace period of 8 weeks is offered to the clients.