India

At a grand opening ceremony in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurates the Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

The government chose the anniversary of the birth of Indira Gandhi to launch the country’s first bank for women.

Indira Gandhi was India’s first and only female Prime Minister.

“I am also sure that it will particularly benefit women from the less privileged sections of our society. The fact that it will be run largely by women will serve as an example that given the opportunity women are capable of taking on challenging tasks.”

The idea for an all-women’s bank came about in response to the huge public outcry over the gang rape of a 23-year old woman in New Delhi in December last year.

Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, explains why the all-women’s bank is necessary.

“Only 26 percent women in India admit to having a bank account. On the other hand, 4 public sector banks and several private sector banks have a woman as the head of the bank. The obvious conclusion is that despite good intensions there is a deep seated bias at the institutional and individual levels against women.  Per capita credit in the case of women is 80 percent lower than men hence the need for a bank that predominantly serves women.

Bank employees like Sushma are excited about their new job.

“We will offer special schemes for women that have been devised with their particular needs in mind. Women can open their bank account with a zero balance. They can take advantage of the concessions the bank is going to offer them, there are so many things. I’m sure women are going to enjoy the experience.”

But economists like Mythilli Bhusnarmath are not convinced.

“In rural areas, a lot of women are hesitant to go to a bank which is manned by men. So they may feel a little freer. But that to my mind could have been done just as well with all women branches of the public sector banks. So the huge equity the government has put in perhaps could have been better utilized in something else to empower women, in terms of scholarships, in terms of education, or simply even in terms of toilets because it is one of the biggest problems we have.”

At present the bank has 6 branches, all in metropolitan cities.

The government has plans to open branches all over the country and even a few abroad.

But that may take some time. 

Manohar Manoj is editor of the Hindi weekly news magazine, Economy India.

“Now it depends on how sincere and serious we are about achieving the bank’s objectives. Its success will be determined by how quickly it is able to reach remote rural areas, where it is needed the most.”