It has been a different experience for India’s newest universal banks, Bandhan Bank and IDFC Bank, which completed their first full financial year of operation in March.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued licences to these banks in 2014 in order to expand financial inclusion and they started operations by August 2015.
Bandhan, incorporated as a microfinance institution, and IDFC, formerly a term lending institution for the infrastructure sector, have different legacy issues. Bandhan Bank has an established base in retail banking while IDFC Bank has a big bad debt problem.
IDFC Bank has managed to reduce these stressed