Mr Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Bandhan’s promoter, has over 25 years of experience in microfinance and is a Senior Ashoka Fellow. Mr. Ghosh is a recipient of the Skoch Challenger Award for Bandhan’s financial inclusion work for the years 2008 and 2011. The major shareholders in Bandhan include: The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with a 10.81% stake and three irrevocable public charitable trusts, including the Financial Inclusion Trust, the North East Financial Inclusion Trust and the Bandhan Employees Welfare Trust , which together hold an about 87% stake.

IFC proposes to invest equity of up to $35 million equivalent for a stake in Bandhan.

30.0 million (USD)

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan
Equity	30.0

* These investment figures are indicative

Bandhan operates through 1,553 branches in 18 Indian states, including the northern and eastern parts of the country. The states it operates in include: West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Meghalaya, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Uttarakhand ,Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Sikkim. The Company is headquartered in Kolkata, in the state of West Bengal. Bandhan operates in urban and rural areas and has 9,094 employees.

The proposed project is expected to have a high developmental impact by: (i) increasing access to finance in some of the poorest states in the northern and eastern parts of India; (ii) promoting a more balanced growth of microfinance in India. Most of the MFIs operating in India are concentrated in southern India. Bandhan's operations are largely in the northern and eastern part where microfinance penetration is very low and very few MFIs of significant size are located; (iii) contributing to employment creation and poverty reduction in each of the states where Bandhan operates; and (iv) providing capacity building support in areas such as governance, product development and environmental and social standards so as to establish best practice.

Equity: IFC's equity financing will support the growth and outreach of microfinance in 17 Indian states including the northern and eastern parts of India. Institution building: First, IFC, through advisory services, will help Bandhan strengthen its operations and management capacity in order to support the growth of its operations in a sustainable and efficient manner. Second, IFC will help the Company establish international best practice in environment and social policies. Third, IFC will play a key role in the Company's corporate governance and, through its board seat, IFC will ensure that Bandhan incorporates best practice in corporate governance and risk management. IFC's Global Microfinance Expertise and Regional Presence: IFC is a leading global provider of funding in microfinance and will play a key role by leveraging its relationships with other MFIs and MFI networks around the world to transfer knowledge of microfinance and introduce microfinance sector best practices to Bandhan.

The project involves IFC’s support to Bandhan, Micro Finance Institution. The project has been classified as a Category FI project according to IFC’s Environmental and Social Review Procedure. Bandhan will be required to:

· Develop a procedure relevant to its business process, prior to commitment, that is satisfactory to IFC, and that ensures that all its investments are screened and processed to avoid supporting activities on the IFC Microfinance Exclusion List
· Identify qualified persons to manage and implement the procedure
· Demonstrate commitment and resources to implementing the procedure
· Demonstrate commitment to applying the labor standards established by the IFC Performance Standard 2: Labor and Working Conditions
· Submit a periodic report to IFC as per a format to be provided by IFC
. Commit to establish a similar screening process to avoid supporting activities on the IFC Microfinance Exclusion List in MFIs in which it will invest.