Grameen Bank is an institution that has earned much fame for its in the welfare of poor and helpless people or poverty reduction in Bangladesh. It is credited with the development and proper implementation of a system called Micro Credit. That system has been found much effective in the social empowerment of the helpless people. Grameen Bank was established by Professor Mohammod Younus in1983. During his work as a professor of the Department of Economics at the University of Chittagong, it occurred to him that the economics condition of the poor and helpless people could be improved if they are given an only small amount of loans. As a test run, he provided loans to some poor women of the village Jobra. He gained confidence when the borrowers were able to return the money with profit. They had invested the money in making cane and wicker chairs and earn profit by selling them. Being confident by his success in the village Jobra, he quit his job in the University of Chittagong, came to Dhaka and set up the Grameen Bank on 1st October 1983, at the village Jobra, he extended a total of $27 to 42 woman.
Now the total distribution of loan of Grameen Bank has stood at 29000 crore taka. The rate of loan recovery is about 98.85%. There are about 2226 branches of Grameen Bank in the whole country and the bank has already provided loan to abou66 lakh borrowers in 71,371 rural communities. About 18,795 people work at Grameen Bank at present.
