Singapore's GIC to invest US$165m in Indian bank permit winner Bandhan

[MUMBAI] Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC is investing 10.2 billion rupees (US$165.5 million) in India's Bandhan Financial Services, which is setting up one of the country's two newest banks, Bandhan's chairman said on Tuesday.

The company will get a total equity investment of 16 billion rupees, including 5.8 billion rupees from existing investor IFC, Bandhan Chairman Chandra Shekhar Ghosh told Reuters.

Ghosh declined to say how much stake GIC would get. IFC, part of the World Bank Group, owns 10.8 per cent of Bandhan and its stake will increase after the latest investment.

Bandhan and IDFC were the only two companies which won bank permits from the central bank last year in what was the first bank licensing process in a decade.

Kolkata-based Bandhan, a specialist in small-value loans, said it would have a capital base of about 32 billion rupees after the latest round of investment.

REUTERS