“Women who are looking forward to making a foray into entrepreneurial ventures should make the best use of the financial resources available through banks like ours and put their skill and intelligence to good use,” said Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairman of Bharatiya Mahila Bank.
She was in the city on Tuesday for the inauguration of the first branch of the bank. The Madurai branch is the 55{+t}{+h}branch of the bank, which was started in November 2013, and offers a majority of its schemes and services predominantly for women.
“Women manage the finances in most homes and are constantly thinking of the best practices to be adopted. These banks were opened with a view to getting more women to safeguard their savings in banks and make use of various schemes available,” Ms. Usha said.
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The new branch, which also has an ATM, was inaugurated by G. Natchiar, Director Emeritus, Aravind Eye Care System. Speaking at the event, Dr Natchiar said it was admirable that the bank had a number of schemes for women and encouraged the bank officials to explain the procedures in detail to make the services more accessible to women.
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Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration, Ms. Usha Ananthasubramanian said the two existing branches in Chennai and Coimbatore were making steady progress.
“Special products offered by the bank, which include loans to start catering services, day care centres and beauty parlours, have gained popularity among women. The beauty parlour loan, in particular, is favoured as it enables women to either tie up with an established chain or operate from their houses and establish their venture,” she said.
“The bank will soon launch its mobile app on the Android platform. The lockers in the branch here are the first to have automatic LED lighting,” she added.
Ms. Usha said opening branches in rural areas was a bit of a challenge since they were looking for unbanked rural areas.