Interview with C.S. Ghose, Founder-CEO of Bandhan

The Business Standard today published an interview with Chandra Shekhar Ghose, founder and CEO of Bandhan, recently ranked by Forbes as the top MFI in the country and 2^nd in the world. Mr. Ghose talks about why Bandhan has been successful and elaborates on Bandan’s lending philosophy. A few highlights from the interview:

1. Mr. Ghose elaborates on Bandhan’s programme whereby the poorest of the poor are identified via participatory rural appraisals. Since these households are not at a stage where they can borrow from MFIs, Bandhan instead provides them with free assets and training for two years. At the end of this time period, they then have the financial wherewithal to borrow from an MFI. Incidentally, CMF has recently published a working paper which compares Bandhan’s identification methodology favourably with government identification methods.
2. While MFIs are at the forefront of the social enterprise movement, many have alleged that MFIs tend to pursue profits and ignore the social aspect of their business. Mr. Ghose emphasizes that, for him, microfinance is a “development programme in a sustainable way” and credits Bandhan’s success to a non-corporate, simple, cost-effective business methodology. He also credits low attrition rates in his organisation to the dedication of his staff, which is committed to improving the lives of its clients.