The Bharatiya Mahila Bank, a women-centric bank set up by the Central Government last year with a view to extending banking services to women across the country, will open its third branch in Kerala in Kozhikode.
Usha Anathasubramanian, Chairman and Managing Director, who opened the second Kerala branch at Kochi on Tuesday, said the Mahila Bank planned more branches in the State though Kerala was ‘well-banked’ already.
Thiruvalla will probably the next after Kozhikode. The first branch was opened earlier this year in Thiruvananthapuram.
She said that though Mahila Bank is not an exclusive women’s bank, it is focused on the financial services needs of women, particularly the credit needs of women wanting to set up micro and self-employment enterprises.
Since Kerala women are educated and familiar to banking services, the Mahila Bank will be easily accessible to them.
Asked if the bank intended to tie up with the Kudumbashree movement, she said she would look into this, but pointed out that since it had only two branches it would be hard for the bank to extend services to a large group.
The bank, however, would like to tie up with NGOs and other agencies, she added.