78.6% of women have bank accounts, up from 53% in NFHS-4, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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NEW DELHI: Nearly 81% women in urban India and 77.4% in the country’s rural area own a bank account that they operate themselves, as per the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21), the findings of which were released on Wednesday. Overall, there has been a big jump in numbers, with 78.6% women across India owning bank accounts as compared to 53% recorded in NFHS-4 (2015-16)

The survey also brought out data on how much of a “voice” women have in key household decisions. NFHS-5 assesses this by taking into account how many married women usually participate in three household decisions – healthcare for herself, making major household purchases, and visits to her family or relatives. NFHS-5 data shows that most women participate in these decisions and the percentage is quite high at 91% in urban India and 87.7% in rural parts.

The all-India percentage is 88.7% and is an increase over 84% in 2015-16. In terms of property ownership, there is still a long way to go even though there is an overall increase from 38.4% in 2015-16 to 43.3% in NFHS-5. Clearly the percentage of women owning a house and or land alone or jointly with others remains low. A notable fact here is that a much higher percentage of women in the country’s rural part (45.7%) have a property in their name compared to women in urban India (38.3%).

Women having a mobile phone that they themselves use has also gone up with 69.4% women in urban and 46.6% in rural India using a phone of their own. Overall, there has been an increase of 8% over the two NFHS periods from 45.9% to 54%.

It also showed how many women aged 15-24 years use hygienic methods of protection during their menstrual period – it is 89.4% in urban India and 72.3% in rural parts. Overall, compared to 57.6% women using hygienic methods of protection during menstruation in 2015-16 as per NFHS-4, 77.3% women use locally-made napkins, sanitary napkins, tampons and menstrual cups.



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HSBC, Yes Bank cut home loan rates, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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HSBC India has reduced its home loan interest rates by 10 basis points (100bps = 1 percentage point) from 6.55% to 6.45% for balance transfer home loans. Yes Bank too has announced a limited period a offer on, ‘Yes Premier Home Loans’ at 6.7%. It gives extra 0.05% benefit (interest rate at 6.65%) for prospective salaried women homebuyers.

HSBC’s special rate is available across all loan amounts, and the bank has also waived the processing fee for these loans. This special rate of 6.45% is part of a festive home loan offer which will be effective from 1st October 2021 to 31 December 2021.

“We believe this reduction in the home loans rates will help reduce the interest burden of customers and make homeownership more affordable,” said Raghujit Narula, Head Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC India, said,

HSBC currently offers home loans to all customer at a competitive rate of 6.70% p.a. HSBC’s mortgage offering goes up to Rs 30 crores and includes other benefits such as Top-up Loans, Loans Against Property (LAP) and interest saving variant known as ‘Smart Home’. The special rate applies only to the basic home loan scheme.

Under Yes Bank’s offer, salaried home buyers can get flexible loan tenure of up to 35 years and zero prepayment charges with minimal documentation. The offer is applicable for home loans for property purchase as well as balance transfers from other lenders.



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Muthoot FinCorp rolls out Aatmanirbhar Mahila Gold Loan scheme for women

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Muthoot FinCorp has launched Aatmanirbhar Mahila Gold Loan – a unique and exclusive gold loan scheme for women. This is an extension of Muthoot FinCorp’s #RestartIndia Mission.

The AtmaNirbhar Mahila Gold Loan scheme was launched by actor Vidya Balan and the product offers maximum Loan to Gold value and lowest interest rate. This scheme is aimed at and is expected to be helpful to a large number of women who are currently dependent on local money lenders for their financial needs.

Muthoot FinCorp Shopping Dhamaka gets overwhelming response

Muthoot FinCorp employs more than 9,000 women staff across its 3,600+ branches all over the country. Women Muthootians, hence, felt the need to come out with a special scheme for the women of the country to make them self-reliant as they understood the problems of women better. The company has been able to positively transform more than 64 lakh women customers and every customer had a transformation story to share, a press release said.

ICRA upgrades long-term debt rating of Muthoot Finance to AA+

Vidya Balan said, “Empowering women has become the fundamental aim for all of us in not only helping them achieve their dreams but also transform and boost their entrepreneurial spirit. Women not only take on the responsibility of the house but also play a larger role in the economy and society. I am grateful to be supporting Muthoot Fincorp who has been a trailblazer in accelerating the financial inclusion of women that will positively impact the future”.

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KVGB launches loan scheme for women entrepreneurs

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The Dharwad-headquartered Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB) has launched the ‘Vikas Asha’ loan scheme for women. This new loan scheme is exclusively for women to meet business-related needs, including purchasing machinery/equipment/vehicle, and working capital requirements under micro and small enterprises, including retail trade.

Under this scheme, the bank will extend loan up to a maximum of ₹10 lakh with a repayment period of 84 months.

Launching the loan scheme in Dharwad, P Gopi Krishna, Chairman of KVGB, said that women entrepreneurs’ contribution to the national economy is quite visible.

Stating that the number of women entrepreneurs has grown over time, he said women entrepreneurs need to be lauded for increased utilization of modern technology, increased investments, and finding a niche in the export market.

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Report, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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More than 65% of female customers continue to prefer cash as their preferred payment method of choice, according to a report by PayNearby. The Aadhar enabled Payment System (AePS) emerged as the second most highly used instrument of choice, in the report titled “Women’s digital independence index” which observed more than 3500+ retail stores recording financial transactions of female customers.

75% of retailers surveyed as part of report said that women in the age group of 31-40 years were amongst the most digitally adept, followed by females between the ages of 20-30. Further, the age group of 20-30, also contributed to 25% of all women consumer for financial services, in urban and metro centres.

Other widely used forms of payment methods, apart from Cash and AePS include the United Payment Interface (UPI) and Debit Cards, which saw usage preferences ranging from 5-15%, amongst varying age groups. At retail touch points, popular services availed by females included cash withdrawals, mobile recharges and bill payments, with the transactions being conducted by women in the age bracket of 31-40 years of age and 20-30 years of age, respectively.

It was further found that more than 76% of women operated their bank account themselves, primarily for cash withdrawal and cash deposits. Notably, more evolved services such as insurance and bachat khata found few takers, with less than 5% and 12% usage, respectively.

Further findings revealed by the report include that 32% of women visiting kiranas and retail outlets for financial tranactions had access to smartphones and were also active users of IM app Whatsapp.

Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby, commenting on the findings said “The study showed that post COVID, the awareness among women customers to save for the rainy day have substantially gone up, with more than 32% of women customer indicating this as a priority for them. However, informal savings at home still seems to be the trend, with less than 12% of women customer showing awareness for a formal savings product,” adding “To bring change and inculcate the habit of formal savings in every household, we require coordinated efforts from all stakeholders, and at PayNearby our commitment towards that continues unabated.”



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Women catching up on financial awareness…

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Women have become more aware financially and are taking out more loans but continue to lag behind men in terms of both savings and investments, as per data with several leading firms.

According to TransUnion Cibil, over the last six years, the share of women borrowers grew to about 28 per cent in September 2020 from 23 per cent in September 2014, in an indication of increasing inclusion of women in the country’s credit market.

There were 4.75 crore women borrowers by September last year, with a marked preference in demand for personal loans and consumer durable loans. Data from earlier years (2014, 2015 and 2016) shows that home loans were highest in demand for women consumers.

Data from CRIF Highmark also revealed that men outweigh women in terms of taking bank loans but surprisingly, the average home loan ticket size for women borrowers is higher than that for men.

“Size of home loans borrowed by women is 13 per cent higher than those borrowed by men,” it said. The average home loan ticket size for women was higher at ₹16.69 lakh (₹16.38 lakh as of December-end 2019) against ₹14.71 lakh (₹14.45 lakh) for men.

According to a survey by ANAROCK, real estate was the preferred investment asset for 62 per cent of the women while 54 per cent men chose it over the stock market, fixed deposits and gold

Insurance

Women also seem to have realised the importance of insurance, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic but they continue to lag behind men.

Key findings by Max Life Insurance relating to urban Indian women’s financial protection revealed that urban Indian working women have become more financially resilient than men in the backdrop of the pandemic.

“While working women’s knowledge index (the degree to which they are aware about life insurance products) stood at 55 in comparison to 57 for working men, it improved by an impressive 11 points in comparison to last year,” said the survey, “Max Life India Protection Quotient 3.0,” which was done in partnership with Kantar.

Similarly, a survey conducted by Reliance General Insurance by Nielsen revealed that 57 per cent of the current women policies holders have purchased the policy in the last one year since the pandemic started.

However, only 43 per cent of women are involved in decision making for health insurance, but not on their own.

Further, 98 per cent of the women surveyed believe that there should be more women health centric add-ons in the health insurance such as menstruation/hormonal issues, PCOD treatment, mental illness related to postpartum syndrome and osteoporosis treatment.

Cryptocurrency

Even in terms of newer investment classes like cryptocurrencies, the participation of women is lower compared to men.

According to CoinDCX, women account for 20 per cent of its total customer base in 2021, slightly higher than 15 per cent last year.

According to Zebpay, about 10 per cent of investors on its platform are women. “The average ticket size for women investors was ₹3 lakh for the period of March to August 2020 which increased to ₹5.7 lakh from September to February, 2021,” it said.

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Woman banker who landed in a village with three-month-old infant, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Padmaja Chunduru, MD & CEO, Indian Bank

“It is very important that you determine the direction you want to go. The pace of travel can be calibrated as you go.” has been my way of life. I have always been a risk-taker, both in professional and personal life, thanks in no small part to understanding from my family. Landing in a village with a three-month-old infant for rural branch training and then building the support system there gave me the confidence to plod on. Not wanting to extend maternity leave which was only three months in 1985.

Give and take

I reported at a village branch in Andhra Pradesh, with my three-month-old baby. Through someone in the extended family, we managed to get a senior lady to stay with me and look after the infant. Took a house next to the branch. Got an old grandmother to also stay with us to supervise this lady and so the child had four people taking care of him. A lot of adjustments and compromises, but I was satisfied he was in good hands.

As a working mother, I did reach out for and accept help and support from everywhere. Also, we need to extend support to others. Give and take has been my philosophy.

While strategic planning is essential, I believe execution holds the key to success. I feel especially proud and satisfied with the way we could get the amalgamation of Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank done very smoothly amidst the Covid challenges. In my earlier stint in State Bank of India in New York, my team succeeded in getting all regulatory actions against the US Operations of SBI lifted.

Thanks to my career focus, my children realised early in life that they cannot count on their mother being present whenever they needed her, and thus grew up to be sensible, balanced and responsible men. I feel especially proud when roles are reversed and they teach me new age concepts or technologies, more patiently than I ever did with them.

Worship the work

This career has given me an opportunity to meet some of my very good friends. Every assignment has been made memorable by my colleagues and friends working alongside me.

There is an impression that if the family does not need the earnings of a woman, then she need not pursue a career. I disagree.

There is so much potential in women that is going untapped, not only for the economy but for the woman herself. She should be taking her decisions and owning them up. Blaming family and circumstances is only escapism.

It is very important for all organisations to have women in critical, decision making roles at all levels to serve as visible role models. Once we achieve a 30% representation for women at higher levels, it will become self-perpetuating.

My advice

To young women I would say, be deliberate in planning to get some broad alignment between your career graph and personal life. Good to have a mentor, someone who understands your dilemmas and steers you towards making sensible choices.

Lastly, do your duty but don’t expect to be appreciated always. It’s okay to not be a nice lady.

This blog is written by Padmaja Chunduru, MD & CEO, Indian Bank

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETBFSI.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETBFSI.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.



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Manipal Technologies to help UP rural women to provide banking services

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The Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (UPSRLM) has engaged Manipal Technologies Limited (MTL) to train and onboard 8,000 women from self-help groups (SHGs) as banking correspondent (BC) Sakhis.

A company statement said on Sunday that this project is part of UPSRLM’s mission to train and onboard around 58,000 rural women as BC Sakhis or banking agents across 75 districts of the state. Of the 58,000 BC Sakhis, 8,000 will be trained and onboarded by MTL.

MTL signed the agreement with the UP Government in the presence of Rajendra Pratap Singh, UP Minister for Rural Development, recently.

Quoting Rajesh Shet, Vice-President of MTL, it said: “Our secure and easy-to-use technology solution will now support the rural women in UP to deliver several banking services as well as demonstrate their entrepreneur skills to a larger society. BC Sakhis will be the change-agent to deploy the use of digital payments in rural India and offer several new services at the doorsteps”.

Rural livelihood mission initiative

Under this rural livelihood mission initiative, each BC Sakhi will receive financial support of ₹24,000 for the first six months. The BC Sakhi will be provided specific training along with an integrated PoS (point-of-sale) device, cash box, fake-currency detector device, etc. to deliver seamless banking services in her village. To maintain safety and hygiene during the current pandemic, a contactless iris scanner for customer authentication will also be provided, he said.

Shet told BusinessLine that MTL had branded its technology solution as ‘Sahi Pay’ where it has brought banking, payments and some value-added services such as ticketing, electricity bill payment, etc., together.

The Government’s initiative is a big step towards empowering local women to provide banking and other digital payment services in village panchayat so that villagers do not need to travel long distances to access basic banking and payment services, he added.

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