Bandhan Bank expects long-term benefits from GST

Kolkata-based private lender Bandhan Bank, which mostly lends to small and micro enterprises, is hoping to gain from the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a top official said on Thursday.

Small business units including traders across states have been raising concerns over the GST and asking to defer the launch of the new indirect tax system. In a protest, the traders have also called a nationwide strike on June 30.

"There may be some teething concerns on GST in the near term but it will have a positive impact on our business in the long term," the lender's Managing Director and CEO Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said here on the sidelines of an event of the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce.

He said the bankers would be able to know details of transactions by the borrower and this would bring in transparency in the system.

The micro-finance company which was transformed into a universal bank has 80 lakh borrowers, of which 75 lakh are women, and posted Rs 1,112 crore profit in 2016-17.