BHARTIYA MAHILA BANK IN INDIA: PERFORMANCE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

ABSTRACT

Banking sector has contributed substantially in development of our society through various financial channels and financial vehicle. Only 26 percent of women in India admit to have a bank account. Since fewer women than men have bank accounts, fewer women are able to get loans. Per capita credit in the case of women is 80 percent lower than in the case of men. Hence the need for a bank that predominantly serves women from the self-help groups to the small business women and from the working woman to the high net worth individual. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi have inaugurated country’s first all-women Bharatiya Mahila Bank in Mumbai on November 19,2013 on the occasion of 94th birth Anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. With the inauguration of the Bank, seven branches become operational across the country, including Kolkata, Mumbai, Lucknow, Guwahati, Chennai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. The government has appointed Usha Ananthasubramanian as the first Chairperson and Managing Director of Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the first all-women bank. Bharatiya Mahila Bank will be a universal bank and will provide every banking service and facility that is provided by comparable public and private sector banks. It will establish branches all over the country and, in due course, some branches abroad. This bank expects its business to touch Rs 60,000 crore in the next seven years. When it comes to deposits, BMB are open to taking deposits from both men and women. BMB is a‘mahila’(woman)  bank, so it wish to predominantly loan to women. That is where the distinction comes. This bank has some attractive interest rates on the savings deposits. Up to Rs.1 lakh, it gives 4.5 per cent and beyond that it gives 5 per cent. The bank has launched some innovative schemes for empowering women like kitchen loans, education loans, crèche loans and loans for starting small home-based catering businesses. The bank has attractive rates of interests for women. This paper is based on secondary data. This paper is an attempt to review the performance and to assess the future prospects of Bhartiya Mahila Bank in India. 

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