It is a little over a month since Ratan Kumar Kesh took over as interim managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bandhan Bank. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved Mr Kesh’s new role for a period of three months or until a new MD and CEO assumes office, whichever is earlier.

Mr Kesh has been with the Kolkata-based bank for over a year now, joining it as executive director (ED) and chief operating officer (COO) in March 2023. The veteran banker with over three decades of experience in the banking industry has held several stints with top lenders in the past, such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank, and Axis Bank. Before entering the banking sector, he was also associated with the Aditya Birla Group and the RPG Group.

Besides his distinguished career in non-banking and banking sectors, Mr Kesh also boasts of impeccable educational qualifications. Apart from a degree in mechanical engineering from NIT Durgapur, Mr Kesh has completed his Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management from NMIMS, Mumbai. Additionally, he is a certified quality engineer from Quality Council of Indiana, USA, and has also undertaken advanced leadership courses from IIM-A.

As ED and COO of Bandhan Bank earlier, Mr Kesh had led from the front in building the architecture for the lender’s technology, operations and processes. In fact, these building blocks have played a vital role in transforming Bandhan from a microfinance institution into a universal bank. In June 2015, the RBI granted banking licence to Bandhan, making it the first-ever microfinance institution to become a universal bank in the country.

As Mr Kesh steps into the big shoes of Chandra Shekhar Ghosh – who had founded Bandhan as a microfinance institution in 2001 and who stepped down as MD and CEO of Bandhan Bank in July 2024 – he will have to attend to numerous challenges before the lender. The transition from a microfinance institution into a universal bank is still work in progress. Bandhan Bank is swiftly diversifying its loan portfolio from small-ticket loans to have a greater say across commercial banking, MSME credit, corporate banking, housing finance, personal loans, gold loan and many other segments.

Incidentally, Mr Kesh has been a part of the bank’s new strategic plan involving all business units for the next three years. The new plan focuses on increasing the share of secured assets while maintaining a balance between the quality of portfolios and their returns. The veteran banker is also giving final touches to the new plan, which envisages a big thrust to Bandhan’s universal banking ambitions. Simultaneously, the plan also focuses on retaining the essential characteristics of its past as a microfinance institution and remaining rooted to the ground. Bandhan Bank’s strategic plan may seem too onerous. Yet, achieving it could be easier for an accomplished banker like Mr Kesh.