Bandhan & Tally India team up to empower youth

KOLKATA: Micro-finance institution Bandhan and software firm Tally India have teamed up to empower unemployed youth, both by training them in accounting software and guiding them in finding suitable placements. This is perhaps the first time an MFI and a software firm have come together for such a cause. The Directorate of Employment in West Bengal has decided to support the initiative.

The immediate mission of the Bandhan-Tally initiative is to train 10% of the 14 lakh registered unemployed in West Bengal and arrange placements. A six-month course to learn Tally accounting software costs Rs 10,000. Under the arrangement, Bandhan and the directorate of employment in West Bengal will jointly handle 90% of the course fee. While the directorate will give Rs 5,000, Bandhan will offer Rs 4,000. The balance Rs 1,000 will have to be borne by the candidate. Bandhan will charge a fixed Rs 500 as interest on Rs 4,000.

Confirming the development, Tally India Pvt Ltd���s head for academics, Jagdish Rajan told ET: "This is the first time we���ve teamed up with an MFI for financing options." Bandhan will identify potential candidates for the course from a 14-lakh strong list of registered unemployed youth with employment exchanges. "We have decided that we will only support youths who are part of our borrowers��� family," said Bandhan���s chairman & managing director Chandra Sekhar Ghosh.

"We are also advising borrowers to enrol their siblings with stock exchanges so that they become entitled for our scheme," he added. Bandhan and Tally are now jointly running a pilot project in three West Bengal districts -- South Dinajpur, Malda and North 24 Paraganas.

Incidentally, Tally India started a training programme on accounting software targeted at rural youth one-and-a-half years ago. It had even mobilised the state���s directorate of employment for sponsoring 50% of the course fee. But the response was lukewarm as few were ready to even shell out Rs 5,000. "Now with Bandhan agreeing to finance the course, we expect a higher turnout. Even if we can train 10% of the 14-lakh registered unemployed in West Bengal, it will be a huge success," Mr Rajan said.

Tally���s accounting software is user-friendly and used by 40 lakh users across the country. "We train 2 lakh people a year through our 1,200 partners spreading across the country," Mr Rajan said.