If the all-women bank is yet to take shape in India, one such experiment in the neighbouring Pakistan is in its teens.

In 1989, the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan late Benazir Bhutto set up ‘First Women Bank Ltd’ to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs.

In the last 23 years, the bank expanded its network to 24 locations with 41 branches.

Started with 30 employees, the bank has around 600 employees now.

The financial statement of the bank for the year ended December 2011, shows profit after tax of Pakistani rupees 25.85 crore.

The bank’s advances to women constituted 51 per cent of the total advances in 2011. Of this, 66.5 per cent of the total disbursements were made to SMEs run by women, and 20.2 per cent was extended to them as micro credit. Women corporate customers got the rest.

The bank had 57,000-plus women account holders by December 2011.

The Oct-Dec 2012 newsletter of the bank says that the deposits has increased from Pakistani rupees 7.9 crore in 1989 to Pakistani rupees 1500 crore now, and advances from Pakistani rupees 50 lakh then to Pakistani rupees 1000 crore now.

Another recent experiment is seen in Tanzania. ‘Tanzania Women’s Bank’ officially started operating from 2009.

However, the idea of such a bank was mooted way back in 1999 with a group of women entrepreneurs approaching the then President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Benjamin William Mkapa, to set up such a bank.

Operating with one branch, the bank now promises to open three more branches in different locations. At the end of September 2012, the bank had registered a loss of Tanzanian shilling 162 crore.

>vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in