Bharatiya Mahila Bank ltd — the first women’s bank in India and a wholly owned Government institution — has opened the country’s 12th branch in Raipur. This is also the bank’s first branch in Chhattisgarh.
The branch was inaugurated by Rajnandgaon Maa Bamleshwari Janhitkari Samiti president Padmashree Phoolbasan Yadav on Thursday in the presence of Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank Usha Ananthasubramanian and Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Dr Sanjay Kumar Patil at Pujari Chambers, Dhamtari Road, Raipur, according to a Bank Press release issued here on Friday.
On the occasion, the chief guest Phoolbasan Yadav said that it was an honour to inaugurate Bharatiya Mahila Bank, a woman-centric bank, which will impact the lives of the ordinary women by empowering them to realise their dreams.
Dr Sanjay Kumar Patil also congratulated the bank for opening its 12th branch at Raipur. He also desired that the Bank should expand in Chhattisgarh as there is immense potential for taking the women into the fold of financial services.
Inaugurating the branch, the Chairman & Managing Director of the Bank, Ms Usha Ananthasubramanian informed that the Bank is designed to cater the needs of women and offers the entire banking and financial services.
The access to finance and banking not only helps empower women but also broadens the social base of development, thus fostering equitable growth. It will cater to every segment of women from self-help groups to lower middle class women to high net worth individuals with the basket of various products to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth, she stated.
As our women have minimal access to finance and financial products, with the opening of this branch, the Bank would work to empower our women to contribute to the growth processes of the mainstream economy. At present, the Bank is offering an interest of 5% on Savings Bank account with balance of Rupees One lakh and above and for amount less than Rs 1 lakh, the interest rate is 4.5%. The interest for deposits upto Rs 1 Crore is 9.15% and for deposits above Rs 1 Crore is 9.25%. In the case of women customers, the Bank is offering concessional rate of interest as applicable for various loan products. With working women in mind and to help them continue their jobs, the Bank has designed a special loan product for setting up day care centres, it stated.
Educational loan, beauty parlour loan, loan to establish catering units, apart from the normal banking loan products such as vehicle loan, home loan are some of the other loan products that have been designed for the benefit of women. The Bank has also tied-up with New India Assurance Co. ltd for providing general insurance products to cater the needs of women at the bottom of the pyramid, working women and also for their family as a whole.
The Bank will also conduct programmes on financial literacy, skill development, training for women of all segments of the society so that women in turn generate more income, more jobs and growth opportunities and contribute significantly for the economic growth of the nation. The distinguished guests from other organisations and from various banks and government officials were present. As envisaged earlier, the Bank would open a total of 25 branches this year.