India has opened the first ever-state owned bank for women in Mumbai, aimed at providing loans and financial services to women and addressing broader gender issues.
The Bharatiya Magila Bank (Indian Women’s Bank), will employ women, accept deposits from, and lend mostly to women, according to BBC.
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opened the first branch in Mumbai on Tuesday, where seven other branches are now operational. The bank, which is fully owned by the government, intends to open 770 branches across India by 2016, including branches in villages where women’s access to banks is limited.
According to the World Bank, just 26% of women in India currently have an account with a formal financial institution, compared with 46% of men. The state-run initiative was first announced in February and was welcomed by many, including members of the opposition, but was also met with scepticism. Some detractors argued that the bank was merely a political ploy to attract female voters ahead of the May 2014 federal election.
But Sing says the creation of the bank aims to facilitate funding for women and to address broader gender issues, focusing on empowering women and giving them the possibility of financial freedom through loans and financial literacy.
“The sad reality is that women in India face discrimination and hardship at home, at school, at their place of work and in public places. Their social, economic and political empowerment remains a distant goal,” Singh said at the launch.
“The setting up of the Bharatiya Mahila Bank is a small step towards the economic empowerment of women” he said.
The board of directors is made up of eight women, according to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who announced the the bank as part of his budget proposal in February, and said it was part of a government measure to generate employment opportunities for women and address inherent gender biases in the current financial systems.
“It will create more job opportunities for women and it will pay special attention to the weaker and more neglected sections of women,” he told reporters at the Mumbai opening.