Launches Bandhan Bank’s ops in Kolkata
Finance minister Arun Jaitley (right) and Bandhan Bank CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh during the inauguration of Bandhan bank in Kolkata on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)
Kolkata: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that a discussion paper on first set of tax exemptions to be phased out, would be put in the public domain shortly. “The government, as I told in the budget, will bring down the corporate tax level from 30 per cent to 25 per cent gradually,” Mr Jaitley said at an ICC session here. He said that the effective rate of taxation is 22 per cent plus because there are a large number of exemptions.
So, the first set of exemptions phase-out would be put in the public domain for discussion, he said. He also said that the government is working on schemes like agri-insurance and health schemes for senior citizens. "These are in active stages of consideration,” he said.
In an another event, the minister inaugurated the operations of Bandhan Bank on Sunday in Kolkata with 501 branches, 1.43 crore accounts, around Rs 10,500 crore loan book and 19,500 employees.
Bandhan happens to be the first bank to come up in the eastern region since independence. UCO Bank was the last Bengal-headquartered bank starting its operations in 1943. It also marks the beginning of an era for Bandhan, originally a micro lender focused on women borrowers and backed by IFC, Singapore’s GIC and SIDBI among others, that hails from under-banked West Bengal.
Chandra Sekhar Ghosh, born in Tripura and son of a sweet shop owner, managed to bag a licence for Bandhan against stiff competition including from billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Capital, the financial arm of Larsen and Toubro and Shriram Capital, the holding company for Shriram Transport Finance Company.
The last lender in Eastern region was United Commercial Bank (now UCO Bank), which was started by eminent industrialist Ghanshyam Das Birla in 1943.
( Source : deccan chronicle/agencies )
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