The study, published by Women’s World Banking and Bank Of Baroda, by serving an estimated 10 crore low-income women, the public sector banks Can attract Rs 25,000 crore in deposits and empower 40 crore low income Indians.
The report recommends that banks create products for women that allow them to deposit small amounts and remove barriers factors.
To make them use the accounts, it asks banks to promote awareness and instigate customers. It has called for business correspondents to transform from human ATMs into relationship managers, offering all financial products to rural women. Finally, it calls for banks to separate their Jan Dhan Account data by gender.
Women World Banking Executive VP (Asia) Sriraman Jagannathan said, “We are blessed to have a platform like Jan Dhan Yojana accounts, which could be the biggest women-empowerment opportunity in the world.”
According to her, in some other country, a women-empowerment program would have to be run using a pilot program. In India, most women already have Jan Dhan accounts.
Sanjeev Chadha, MD & CEO, Bank of Baroda said, “A good percentage of women, especially those belonging to the low-income group, still shy away from realizing the full potential of their bank accounts. Instead, they still see it only as a channel to receive and withdraw cash. And, therein lies an untapped opportunity and an untapped potential from a banking point of view.”
A pilot conducted by Bank of Baroda on women-specific savings account linked to Jan Dhan Yojana was highly successful. The basic bank account with no fees or minimum balance requirement attracted a large number of women when the government announced its decision to transfer Rs 500 per month to women’s accounts during the pandemic year.
“This base of women accounts has made her own agency possible. Banks are now able to view their savings and cash flow and offer loans and other products and services,” Jagannathan said. He said retirement products are important for women as they generally outnumber men but do not have the financial assets.
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