In a tribute to all the efforts-small or big made by cooperators across India, government of India has inaugurated Bhartiya Mahila Bank (BMK) in Bombay. It is all women bank run by all women employees. The bank has already branches operating in Kolkata, Bangalore, Guwahati, Lucknow, Ahmadabad and Chennai.
Delhi and Indore would have branches in December this year. The bank would be headquartered in Delhi. It would offer universal banking services and function like a commercial bank.
BMK would have 25 branches altogether by the end of the fiscal year. The all women bank would be able to boast a network of 700 branches across the country and deposits and advances of Rs. 60,000crore by 2020.
The beginning of the BMK is a major initiative undertaken towards financial inclusion in that only 26 percent of women in the country have bank accounts and per capita credit for women is 80 percent lower than that for men.
The establishment of this unique bank is being seen as fulfillment of the promise made by the govt in the budget 2013-14 about setting up of all women bank.
It is worth mentioning that BMK could trace its ancestry back to some all women banks that had been in existence over the last few years in Maharashtra.
Bhartiya Mahila Bank (BMK) Chairperson Usha Ananthasubramaniam has announced the bank would offer a range of products tailor-made for women. She said the BMK would extend loans for crèches and the state of the art kitchens, for example. Such a step would cause women’s liberation from narrow complications and thus quicken their empowerment, she claimed. .
The bank will give loans mainly to women and provide cheap educational loans for girls. The bank would give loans sans collateral because property documents are not in name of female family members.
The bank has been started with a paid up capital of Rs. 1000 crore. The bank will give 4.5 percent interest on savings deposits.
The bank would have all women management board and all its activities would be supervised by women.