Over 10,000 women entrepreneurs served over ₹900 crore of financial services in FY22, most being in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, as per the PayNearby Women Financial Index 2022-2023 launched in association with Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH).

The third edition of the report highlighted that a growing number of women retailers are dispensing frictionless financial services in their communities. It was prepared basis of a Pan-India survey of financial transactions by women consumers across more than 5,000 retail stores in the country.

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“The PWFI report is an eye-opener and game-changer as it will help us leverage technology and innovation in the right direction. Serving as a template, it will help us build symbiotic partnerships and alliances in the financial services ecosystem to design smart, creative, and sustainable solutions for un/underserved women users in India,” said Rajesh Bansal, CEO of Reserve Bank Innovation Hub.

The report showed that 78 per cent of women cited cash withdrawal as the primary reason for visiting a retail service centre, followed by 29 per cent for bill payments, 19 per cent for recharges, 8 per cent for travel and 8 per cent for other reasons. Specifically in metro cities, 14 per cent women cited money transfers as a reason for going to retail financial centres.

Cash withdrawals in the range of ₹1,000 to ₹2,500 were the most common, whereas ₹500 to ₹1,000 was the most common range for EMI payments, the report said.

Further, over 76 per cent of the women who avail basic banking services at retail stores, prefer Aadhaar-based biometric withdrawal (AePS) to access cash from their accounts. Cash remained the most preferred mode of payment at 48 per cent but UPI QR-based transactions gained momentum. Cards continued to have minimal presence in this segment.

Most digitally adept women customers, engaged in financial transactions at retail stores, were in 18-30 years age bracket, the report showed.

While child education was the top priority in savings goals followed by medical emergencies, the segment of women consumers also saw increased adoption of non-banking products like PAN services, entertainment, e-commerce and travel.

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The report further stated that while more than 74 per cent of women operated their bank accounts, it was primarily for the purpose of cash withdrawals and deposits. However, more than 20 per cent admitted to their husbands operating their bank accounts for them.

Consumption of evolved services such as insurance remained low at 1 per cent despite 29 per cent of women being aware of insurance products--wherein life and health were the preferred insurance products.