Need to bring women to mainstream banking: Mahila Bank chief
Updated: Nov 27, 2014 03:51:25pm
New Delhi, Nov 27 (KNN) Chairman and managing director (CMD), Bhartiya Mahila Bank (BMB) Usha Ananthasubramanian said that women entrepreneurs need to have knowledge on mainstream banking. They need to know that their money multiplies with the banks, it is safe with the banks and they can borrow at very lower rates.
Inaugurating a summit on ‘Leveraging Jan Dhan Yojana-A viable option for sustainable development of women entrepreneurship,’ organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), here yesterday, she said that Indian women, have always been good at savings and borrowing but they did not access the formal channels like banks as they never knew their money could grow.
“Women need to come out and more professionally start seeking advice so that it helps them in having a better horizon in what is happening in the financial sector,” she said.
There exists a kind of entrepreneurial gap in the country and women need to be supported to bring them into this fold, Ananthasubramanian said, adding that women are not very good at networking unlike men. There is a need to have exclusive chambers for women entrepreneurs, said the chief of India’s first women bank.
Emphasising the various women-specific loan products devised by the bank, she said BMB is trying to give a special product for people wanting to set up beauty salons.
Considering the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, Ananthasubramanian said maturation of technology is one of the major contributions to the success of the scheme which brings in the under-served, unserved population of the country.
“Earlier we had one round of financial inclusion but it wasn't a massive success as what we are witnessing today because it was just about creating numbers but today there are various elements that contribute like - financial literacy and technology maturity,” she added.
Addressing the summit, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), US Paliwal said among banks, there is a need to create more awareness about potential business opportunity presented by women entrepreneurs.
He also said that a mutually beneficial relationship can be achieved by understanding, designing and providing banking solutions to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs.
“It is worrisome that 75 per cent of women entrepreneurs fund their businesses from informal sources, it is high time women entrepreneurs got timely access to finance through formal sources to reduce their dependence on informal sources of finance,” said Paliwal. (KNN/ST)
Inaugurating a summit on ‘Leveraging Jan Dhan Yojana-A viable option for sustainable development of women entrepreneurship,’ organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), here yesterday, she said that Indian women, have always been good at savings and borrowing but they did not access the formal channels like banks as they never knew their money could grow.
“Women need to come out and more professionally start seeking advice so that it helps them in having a better horizon in what is happening in the financial sector,” she said.
There exists a kind of entrepreneurial gap in the country and women need to be supported to bring them into this fold, Ananthasubramanian said, adding that women are not very good at networking unlike men. There is a need to have exclusive chambers for women entrepreneurs, said the chief of India’s first women bank.
Emphasising the various women-specific loan products devised by the bank, she said BMB is trying to give a special product for people wanting to set up beauty salons.
Considering the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, Ananthasubramanian said maturation of technology is one of the major contributions to the success of the scheme which brings in the under-served, unserved population of the country.
“Earlier we had one round of financial inclusion but it wasn't a massive success as what we are witnessing today because it was just about creating numbers but today there are various elements that contribute like - financial literacy and technology maturity,” she added.
Addressing the summit, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), US Paliwal said among banks, there is a need to create more awareness about potential business opportunity presented by women entrepreneurs.
He also said that a mutually beneficial relationship can be achieved by understanding, designing and providing banking solutions to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs.
“It is worrisome that 75 per cent of women entrepreneurs fund their businesses from informal sources, it is high time women entrepreneurs got timely access to finance through formal sources to reduce their dependence on informal sources of finance,” said Paliwal. (KNN/ST)
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