by NR INDRAN / INT

Mumbai : Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector Bank, today announced the launch of Axis Bank Bandhan Holistic Assistance (ABHA) program for marginalised and excluded people from villages of Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal, over the next five years. ABHA, a joint initiative of Axis Bank Foundation and Bandhan – Konnagar will reach out to 50,000 people in these districts.

The project was inaugurated today at Bhavan Baruipur, South 24 Parganas district by Dr K. C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India in the presence of Mrs. Shikha Sharma, MD & CEO of Axis Bank and Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Founder and Mentor of Bandhan.

Mrs. Shikha Sharma, MD & CEO, Axis Bank said, “Axis Bank Foundation has made a significant contribution in the field of education – for the excluded population and vocational training for the differently-abled, besides continuing to support Highway Rescue and Trauma Care. In the next five years, Axis Foundation would work to provide sustainable livelihoods in the most needy and excluded districts of our country, ensuring that at least 60% of the beneficiaries are women”.

The project will provide identified beneficiaries with a sustainable livelihood options and help them build self-confidence. The beneficiaries would receive   trainings for skill development in handling at least two assets which would be handed over to them, free of cost. The program also aims to enhance the level of education by teaching the beneficiaries – how to read, write and count. It will also focus on educating them on how to save money and deposit their savings in a bank/post office.

Axis Bank foundation (ABF) was setup as a public trust in 2006 to conduct Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives of Axis Bank. The Bank seeks to define and effectively fulfil its social responsibilities as a corporate citizen by allocating 1% of its Profit after Tax every year to ABF.

ABF has committed itself to supporting various NGOs engaged in socially relevant endeavours in education for the underprivileged/special child, public health, highway trauma care and in providing sustainable livelihoods. So far ABF has directly benefited 64,407 children in the field of education. ABF has also provided lifesaving support to 5,440 accident victims through an ambulance service run by Lifeline Foundation. ABF aims to provide one million sustainable livelihoods in the next five years, working as far as possible in the poorest regions of the country, ensuring that at least 60% of the beneficiaries are women.

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