A Visit to Bandhan Bank

Chandra Sekhar Ghosh had entered the heady world of Micro Finance way back in 2001 and like all great entities that work in the grassroots – unknown and unsung – was stoically trudging on, far, far from the glare of publicity.

However, destiny had other ideas and the organisation that he had painstakingly created – Bandhan Bank, was catapulted into the full glare of publicity in 2014, when it was granted the banking license by the Reserve Bank of India.

Today, the Bank, whose core focus continues to be micro finance, has a reasonably sizeable presence in the general banking category and is fast curving out a space for itself as a nice player.

It was to the Park Street branch of this Bandhan Bank that the students of the Bhawanipur Education Society College (BESC) paid a visit on 23 rd February, 2018 – to see banking as it happens, literally from the other side of the counter.

Twenty students of the college, led by Prof Swapna Saha, made the trip and were given an extremely illuminating tour of the branch by the staff member of the bank.

The complete banking process – from the moment a customer enters into a branch to the time his / her banking requirement is satisfactorily met – was explained in detail.

Vital functions like the operation of cash, the system of maintenance of accounts, the real-time monitoring of information and the like were also explained to the students, who not only learnt about such acts but also witnessed them, as they were performed.

The importance of the visit, especially from the point of view of the students of commerce cannot be overemphasised – seeing after all, is believing.

It will not be out of place here to put on record the humble gratitude of the students to Prof Dilip Shah, the Dean of Student Affairs of BESC, who, true to his self, had facilitated the journey.

The report has been filed by Shibangi Chattopadhyay of the Expressions collective of the BESC.