Bandhan Financial Services, the microfinance institution that received the new bank licence, may hire a consultancy firm for drawing a blueprint for setting up a commercial bank. At present, an internal team is working out the details such as the number of branches to be opened and locations, said CMD of the company Chandra Shekhar Ghosh. If need be the company may engage a consultancy firm for help, he added. It had earlier engaged Deloitte to help it apply for bank licence. The company will pool some of the existing employees which is about 13,000 and some would be hired to start banking operation within the 18-month period given by RBI, he added. Of the 2,016 branches at present, 70% are in the rural belt, Ghosh said, adding that some of them would be restructured. Bandhan has 55 lakh customers under the micro-finance fold and they would be the first customers of the bank.
