Jharkhand women can now utilize their own ‘gender dominated bank’ with the first Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) of Jharkhand unveiled in the State capital on Friday. With this, India has 16 BMB branches in just four months of this ‘women for women’ service launch.
Owing an account is easy here as account opening can be done even on zero balance. In case of women customers, the bank is offering concessional rate of interest as applicable for various loan products. For working women, a special loan product is designed. Also, the bank provides educational loan, beauty parlour loan, loan and general insurance besides normal banking loans like vehicle loan and home loan.
At present, the bank is offering an interest of 5 percent on savings bank account with balance of Rs 1 lakh and above. For amount less than Rs 1 lakh, the interest rate is 4.5 percent. The interest for deposits upto Rs 1 crore is 9.15 percent and for deposits above this amount the interest is 9.25 percent.
“Noticing the majority of women involved in agricultural work, Ranchi BMB branch is coordinating with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Self Help Groups (SHGs) in order to provide financial assistance to such ladies,” BMB Chairman and Managing Director (MD) Usha Ananthasubramanian said.
As of now there is only one ATM functional for this bank. Usha added, “We have decided to establish two to three ATMs in the sub-urban areas of Ranchi. The location has not been finalized.” like other banks, the BMB ATM card can be used in other bank branches as well.
Significantly, the first BMB branch was inaugurated at Mumbai on November 19 last year marking the birth anniversary of India’s first lady Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “By March 2014, the bank would have total 25 branches. New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, lucknow, Ahmedabad, Indore, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Goa and Jaipur branches have already been established. Branches at Shimla, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Hyderabad and Itanagar will be inaugurated on March 18, 19, 20, 22 and 31 respectively,” the MD said.
However, the bank does not owns full fledged ‘women staffs’. Usha said, “We had to bring female staffs from other banks for this BMB across India. In such circumstance, though majority preference turned from women’s side but few men took interest as per region biasness. For instance, in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru we have 100 per cent women staffs but expecting the same at Srinagar and Itanagar branches is not possible because of the social scenario.”
Ranchi is known to be the third BMB branch in Eastern India. Informing about future plans in other states, Usha said, “In a village situated at the outskirts of lucknow, we are carrying out ‘Woman for Woman chain shop’ system where women learn how to use some purchased items such as cosmetics and handicrafts. A similar effort will be started in Maharashtra and Bihar.”
Explaining the launching purpose of ‘BMB’ after announcement made by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram in 2013, Reserve Bank of India general manager Saurav Sinha said, “It is always a woman who regularly saves small amount of money for emergency. Investing that emergency amount in BMB will not grow but benefit in future.”
Sinha’s words were supported by Jharkhand State Commission for Women Chairperson Mahua Maji and NABARD Chief GM KC Panda. As many as 200 accounts have been opened at BMB Ranchi till date, claimed Branch Manager Meena Mittal. Notably, women record 49 percent population in India and only 26 percent of them are said to have a bank account.