Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh has been one of India's foremost proponents of financial inclusion. He has more than three decades of experience in microfinance, banking and development terrain. He has also built numerous institutions that aim at creating large scale impact on ground for the empowerment of communities at large.

'Bandhan' is the name of the not-for-profit entity that Mr. Ghosh had set up in April 2001, with the objective of changing the lives of the underprivileged by giving them small loans and handholding them in their entrepreneurial journey. The entity transformed from an NGO to an NBFC in April 2006, and finally into a universal bank in August 2015. This is the first instance of a microfinance institution transforming into a universal bank in India.

The ethos of empowering people with financial inclusion drives Mr. Ghosh. The banking licence recognises his seminal work in financial inclusion in India. Under Mr. Ghosh’s leadership, the Bank, with a pan-India presence, catered to 3.44 crore customers with more than 76,000 employees on its payroll as of June 2024. On July 9, 2024, Mr. Ghosh retired from the services of Bandhan Bank, leaving behind a legacy of impact creation and purpose led financial empowerment.

Following his stint in Bandhan Bank, Mr. Ghosh has now assumed the office as the Chairman of the Company, which is a NBFC - CIC aimed at investing in business with a purpose to create sustainable and meaningful impact in the lives of people. Under his leadership Bandhan Group has evolved into a global institution and is now present across 3 continents. Over the next decade Bandhan Group is aiming for large scale expansion to create much larger impact in the lives of people across the globe. Today, Bandhan Group’s diversified investment portfolio includes Bandhan Bank, Bandhan AMC, Bandhan Life, and Bandhan Technologies.

Mr. Ghosh has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades in his distinguished career. Among them, the prominent ones include the following –

• ‘Good Human Being Award’ - for contribution in the field of Humanitarian Affairs – in 2025 by Good Human Being Index, USA
• Lifetime Achievement Award at India’s Best Bank Awards 2023 by Financial Express
• ‘Banker of the Year’ for 2018-19 by Business Standard
• CNN-IBN ‘Indian of the Year’ in 2016 in the Business category
• 'Entrepreneur with Social Impact' 2014 by Forbes India Leadership Awards
• 'Entrepreneur of the Year’ 2014 by The Economic Times
• 'Serar Sera Bangali Award’ – Best of the Best Bengali Award – in 2014 by ABP Ananda
• 'Senior Ashoka Fellow' – social entrepreneurship award – in 2007 by Ashoka Foundation

Mr. Ghosh holds a master’s degree in Statistics. He has attended the HBS-ACCION Program on Strategic Leadership at Harvard Business School.

He also holds an Honorary Doctorate in Science - Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) – from ICFAI University, Tripura and two Honorary Doctorates in Literature – D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) – from Sister Nivedita University and University of North Bengal.

Besides being the former Chairman of The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Eastern Region, and the former President of Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCC&I), he has been associated with various other industry bodies. Some of them are:

• Member, Sectoral Committee on Private Sector Banks, Indian Banks' Association (IBA)
• Member, Corporate Governance Council, CII
• Co-Chair, Financial Inclusion Committee, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
• Member of Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, Government of West Bengal
• Member of College Advisory Committee (CAC) in College of Agriculture Banking (CAB), Pune
• Distinguished Invitee on the Council of Management, All India Management Association (AIMA)
• Member, Expert Committee on repositioning the Microfinance Programme, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

He serves as the Director of Bandhan AMC, Bandhan Life, Bandhan Technologies and several other companies. He also serves as Director of the educational institute IISWBM, Kolkata.

As Chairman of the Company, Mr. Ghosh brings his deep commitment to financial inclusion, governance, and purpose-led institution building.