Bandhan was conferred the 'Institution of the Year' Award as a part of HSBC ACCESS Microfinance India Awards in Octorber 2009. Bandhan is the first recipient of the Award.

Bandhan was awarded for demonstrating excellence in financial performance and creating tremendous social impact through its microfinance operations.

The inspiration behind the HSBS ACCESS Microfinance India Awards is to recognize the contribution of notable thought leaders, policy makers, promoters and institutions which help translate the vision of reaching the poorest in a sustainable matter into reality. The Award seeks to recognize pioneering thought or product leadership or best practices followed by an institution. It also recognizes the outstanding contribution of institutions towards up scaling the microfinance sector in India.

Representative parameters for growth achieved, potential to upscale operations, and process/product /technological innovation towards achieving financial inclusion were some of the important considerations.

      

      

Skoch Challenger Award is one of the highest civilian honours in the country that recognizes people, projects and institutions for their extraordinary achievements in contributing to society. Instituted in 2003 to recognize best practices, the awards cover the best of efforts in the area of digital inclusion, financial inclusion and social inclusion. They encompass the best of governance, excellence in academics, capacity building, empowerment and other such issues that normally get lost in the glamour and the glitz.

Bandhan was conferred the Skoch Challenger Award for Financial Inclusion in March 2008, the first non-bank to receive such an award.

      

      

In December 2007, Forbes magazine ranked Bandhan as the best performing MFI nationally and the second best globally. Bandhan was the only Indian MFI and one of the two Asian MFIs featuring in the top 10 MFIs globally.

Forbes' first-ever list of the World's Top 50 Microfinance Institutions were chosen from a field of 641 micro-credit providers.

All the MFIs were ranked on four parameters viz. scale, which is based on the size of their gross loan portfolio; efficiency, which considers operating expense and the cost per borrower as a percent of the gross national income per capita of their country of operation; risk, which looks at the quality of their loan portfolios, measured as the percent of the portfolio at risk greater than 30 days; and return, which is measured as a combination of return on equity and return on assets.

      

      

In September 2007 Ashoka Innovators presented the award of “Senior Ashoka Fellow” to Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh for his outstanding work and innovative approach to poverty alleviation through microfinance.

Senior Fellows are advanced Fellows who are well beyond the launch stage and, at the time of election, have already created widespread impact and are recognized as leaders in their fields. Ashoka Innovators for the public is a global organization with its headquarters in Washington, USA. It invests in fellowships to individuals who are crafting new solutions for existing social problems. Over 1700 Ashoka fellows are currently working in 52 countries in diverse fields such as education, health and human rights to bring about advances in areas of social concern.

      

      

The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) is a consortium of 33 of the most prestigious public and private development agencies working together to expand access to financial services for the poor in developing countries.

The Pro-Poor Innovation Challenge (PPIC) has been a cornerstone of this agenda, funding smaller institutions that demonstrate effective models and methodologies for deepening poverty outreach and impact, while working toward sustainability. I mpressed with Bandhan's focus in reaching poor women by providing them with cost effective microfinance services, CGAP conferred the PPIC Award to Bandhan by way of an operational grant of US$25,000 in early 2006.