Bandhan Axis Bank Foundation & Bandhan Team up to Cater to The
Bandhan Hope for the Poor Baruipur, West Bengal, August 13, 2011 Axis Bank Foundation & Bandhan team up to cater to the most impoverished Bandhan Konnagar, the not-for-profit arm of Bandhan and Axis Bank Foundation, CSR arm of Axis Bank announced the launch of a financial inclusion program called 'Axis Bank Bandhan Holistic Assistance' (ABHA) which is targeted at the poorest-of-the- poor community of two districts of West Bengal. The program was inaugurated by Dr. K. C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India in the presence of Ms. Shikha Sharma, Managing Director & CEO, Axis Bank, Mr. C Babu Joseph, Executive Trustee & CEO, Axis Bank Foundation and Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Founder & Mentor, Bandhan The distinguished guests at the lamp-lighting ceremony A ` 100 crore fund will be set-up for this grant-based initiative aimed at graduating 50,000 ultra-poor families from the districts of Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas, thereby linking them to the larger economic ecosystem over the next 5 years. Axis Bank Foundation and Bandhan has teamed up for contribution and implementation of this financial inclusion initiative. Bandhan, the microfinance major first forayed into development services in 2006 with its introductory program, christened as Chartering into Unventured Frontiers Targeting the Hard core Poor (THP) Program. While delivering microfinance services Bandhan realized that certain section of poor that we call poorest of the poor were being bypassed by microfinance. Even if credit facilities were extended to them, they were reluctant to accept it since they lacked the mere confidence. Hence, the cardinal objective was to create pathways for the poorest-of-the-poor section to find their rightful place in the socio-economic mainstream through a 24-month grant-based intervention encapsulating crucial elements like livelihood, skill development, education, health, social awareness etc.
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