India Launches First Ever All-Women Bank

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday launched the country’s first women only bank with seven branches to be operational immediately.

The bank will be set up with an initial capital of 10 billion rupees and will aim to remove hurdles for Indian women in accessing credit from banks.

“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” said Dr Singh at the inauguration of the bank in Mumbai.“Our women have minimal access to finance and financial products. We need to change this state of affairs to enable our women to contribute to the growth processes of the mainstream economy. The setting up of the Bharatiya Mahila Bank is a small step towards the economic empowerment of our women” added the prime minister.

The Bharatiya Mahila Bank (Indian Women’s Bank) will look to have 25 branches by the end of March next year, including branches in rural regions.

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