The first branch of all-women bank was inaugurated in Luckhnow city on Tuesday, celebrating the birth anniversary of India’s first and only woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The bank set up exclusively for women, will predominantly employ women staff and has an all-women board of 8 members.
India’s Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his inaugural speech said that only 26 percent of women in India have a bank account and in spite of good intentions, prejudices exist against women in institutional and individual level in the country.
“Since fewer women than men have bank accounts, fewer women are able to get loans. Per capita credit in the case of women is 80 percent lower than in the case of men. Hence the need for a bank that predominantly serves women—from the self-help groups to the small business women and from the working woman to the high net worth individual,” he said in his speech.
The finance minister said that the bank credit in India is going to grow at 16.5 percent in the next 20 years and the deposit base is going to grow at 14.6 percent.
The Indian government is expecting the all-women bank to become a means of women empowerment in the country. According to a government release, the bank is a universal bank and will soon have branches all over the country and even abroad.
