Mumbai:  Bandhan Bank announced December 20 that it has signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Controller General of Defence Accounts, Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India for extending the banking services to the Defence Pensioners and their families.

The Bank will provide the services to the Defence Pensioners and their families through 557 branches. The Bank is aligned with the vision of the government in being a one stop solution to all pension related activities of Defence pensioners under the Outreach Programme for Defence Pensioners on System for Pension Administration Raksha (SPARSH).

The MoU was signed in New Delhi, in the presence of Sham Dev, IDAS, Controller, O/o PCDA (Pensions), Prayagraj, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Giridhar Aramane, IAS, Defence Secretary, Government of India, Rasika Chaube, Financial Advisor (Defence Services) and Debraj Saha, Head – Govt. Business, Bandhan Bank.

The Defence Secretary virtually inaugurated a SPARSH Service Centre in Delhi Cantonment, offering various services such as service requests and grievance redressal, annual life certification, Pensioner Data verification (PDV), manage profile changes including Aadhar number, PAN number, postal address and bank details.

Bandhan Bank started in 2001 as a not-for-profit enterprise that stood for financial inclusion and women empowerment through sustainable livelihood creation. It turned into an NBFC a few years later but the core objective remained financial inclusion.

Bandhan Bank driven by a constant desire to serve better, offers world-class banking products and services to urban, semi-urban and rural customers alike. Currently, Bandhan Bank has presence in 34 of the 36 states and union territories in India with 5,646 banking outlets serving 2.77 crore customers.