Infy, TCS in race for Bandhan Bank deal

At least five IT firms are in the fray for developing core banking solutions (CBS) software application for the upcoming Bandhan Bank.

Headquartered in Kolkata, Bandhan is the country’s largest micro-finance institution and is expected to start banking operations by September 2015.

According to Chandra Sekhar Ghosh, Chairman and Managing Director, the companies in the race include Infosys, Fidelity Information Services (FIS), Oracle, Tata Consultancy Services and Polaris.

Some of the major banking solution applications offered by the companies include Finacle (by Infosys); Corebank, Advanced Commercial Banking System (by FIS); Flexcube (by Oracle); TCS FS and, Intellect Suite (by Polaris), among others.

“We are in talks for setting up the CBS and would finalise the vendor in next 15 days,” he told BusinessLine , on the sidelines of a “National IT Conclave” organised by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT).

The cost of installing or setting up the system is yet to be decided upon, the CMD added.

Deloitte has been appointed as consultant for its banking foray, and global HR-major Aon Hewitt roped in to design and implement a compensation strategy for the workforce.

Bandhan, currently, operates in 22 States, has a workforce of 13,000 and a customer base of 57 lakh. Its loan book, as on FY14, stood at ₹ 6,300 crore.

Ghosh is hopeful of rolling out 300-400 bank branches by next year, with operations expanding to more States.

Plans are afoot to start services in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala.

“We intend to take our presence to 27 States, including five in the South, with these 400-odd branches,” he added.

According to him, there will be a two-pronged strategy — one focussing on urban and another on rural areas. In urban and semi-urban areas, it will operate like any private sector bank.

However, for areas where banking services are not yet present, the idea will be to reach out to the customer’s doorstep. Accordingly, Bandhan will provide handhelds to its field agents (in rural areas). The field agents will collect or disburse money, provide receipts through their devices and update records immediately.

“We will have to reach out to the depositors and create financial awareness amongst people,” he added.