NEW DELHI: Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is a man in a hurry since he beat India’s financial titans to win a prized banking licence for his microfinance firm that lends to poor borrowers.

The founder of Bandhan Financial Services must transform his microfinance company into a bank in just 18 months to serve India’s millions of unbanked poor.

“For a microfinance company, getting a banking licence is like achieving the Holy Grail,” Ghosh told AFP in an interview.

India’s central bank created a stir last month when it handed one of its first banking licences in a decade to the microfinancier based in the eastern city of Kolkata, bypassing heavyweight contenders such as billionaire tycoon Anil Ambani.

Just 35 per cent of India’s adults have bank accounts, a rate the central bank calls “pathetic”.

Ghosh aims to open nearly 700 bank branches in 22 states and start with at least 10m savings accounts.

Under the licence conditions, one in four branches must be in towns with fewer than 10,000 people. But Ghosh plans to go further, setting up 80pc of his branches in rural areas, although there will also be “signature” branches in cities to raise Bandhan’s profile. The 53-year-old has come a long way from serving in his father’s candy store.

Money was scarce at home when Ghosh was growing up, but he earned a master’s degree in statistics. He then worked for non-governmental organisations where he saw close-up exploitation of the poor by moneylenders who charge up to 200pc a year for loans.

Dismayed by the predatory loan sharks, he created in 2001 a small lending outfit with 200,000 rupees ($3,300) in capital and two employees.

Bandhan slowly became India’s largest microfinancier, focusing on the northeast and then expanding across the country. “I’m not an economist, I’m not a banker — I learn from my customers,” he said.

As Bandhan becomes a bank, Ghosh said some staff will need training to deal with more sophisticated financial products. Just three-fifths of his employees reached the final grade in school.

“Having a degree has never been the most important qualification for a job with us,” Ghosh said.—AFP