Although Indian women had traditionally been saving, spending and borrowing throughout the years through non-formal channels, they had not been integrated into the formal financial system. As a result, only about 26 per cent of the 585 million women in India have any kind of formal relationship with a bank, according to Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairman and Managing Director of the Bharatiya Mahila Bank.
Ananthasubramanian was speaking at IIM Ahmedabad, as a part of the PGPX (one-year MBA programme) speaker series. Bharatiya Mahila Bank's focus is to address this deficit, she added.
Ananthasubramanian said that they would consider all innovative technology options including the launch of Internet- and mobile-banking services. The bank will also pilot-test a mobile-van bank concept in Mumbai and will offer its entire standard branch banking services to customers through a mobile-van.
She also spoke about the distinction between Bharatiya Mahila Bank and other public sector banks in India. Though the bank invited deposits from all genders and was open to doing business in all strata of the society, it addressed unique needs of women by providing a variety of products oriented towards helping women entrepreneurs and working women.
Some of the unique products launched by the bank include - Shringaar Beauty Parlour Loan, Annapurna Catering Service Loan and, Parvarish Child Day Care Centre Loan - all of which are products oriented towards businesses which are predominantly women run.
IIM-A's PGPX batch comprises 85 highly experienced professionals from diverse sectors. The current 2014-15 batch also has the highest representation of women of all previous PGPX batches at IIM-A.