Bandhan Bank to add 105 branches in next 5 months

New Delhi: Newly-opened private sector lender Bandhan Bank on Thursday said it plans to launch 105 more branches in next 5 months as part of its expansion drive.

"We would like to see 628 branches by end of March 2016," Bandhan Bank CEO and Managing Director Chandra Shekhar Ghosh said here.

The bank, which started operations on August 23, has 523 branches at present.

Around 70 percent of the branches are in rural India while 30 percent are in unbanked rural pockets with 83 lakh customers.

State-wise, West Bengal has the maximum number of branches, followed by Bihar and Assam.

On a question if lowering of small saving rate will help new banks, he said that it will make interest rate on fixed deposit more attractive and banks will be benefited as retail money will flow to banks.

The Finance Ministry had last week said it would review the small savings schemes, which includes PPF and post office deposits.

Bankers have been demanding lowering of interest rate on small savings as high rate on such government schemes makes fixed deposits of banks uncompetitive.

With small saving deposits commanding a rate of 8.7-9.3 percent, banks have been reluctant to transmit the entire policy rate reduction by RBI to the borrowers.

They want to keep their deposit rates attractive to match those in small saving schemes, which are popular among masses.

Bandhan Bank is the first instance of a micro-finance entity in India transforming into a universal bank. It received an in-principle approval from the RBI in April 2014 and the banking regulator's final nod on June 17, 2015.

Its investors include IFC, SIDBI and Caladium Investment Pte. Ltd, a company managed by GIC Special Investments Pvt Ltd.