An atmosphere of bonhomie prevailed as the Bharatiya Mahila Bank opened its branch in Mangaluru on Tuesday. It is the bank’s second in Karnataka, after Bengaluru. The branch is the bank’s 40th overall.
Inaugurating the branch, zilla panchayat chief executive officer Thulasi Maddineni hoped that the bank would open 1,000 branches in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in the next five years. The bank’s executive director S.M. Swathi said the bank would open 40 more branches this fiscal, including 20 in rural areas.
BMB offers additional 0.5 per cent interest to women for term deposits while for savings bank accounts, the rate of interest is 4.5 per cent for balance up to Rs. 1 lakh and 5 per cent for balance above Rs. 1 lakh, she said. Ms. Swathi said the bank’s Annapoorna, Shrungar and Parivarsh credit schemes, financing catering, beauty care and crèches respectively for women, are receiving overwhelming response.
Speaking to presspersons, Ms. Swathi said the bank had conducted business worth Rs. 939 crore till December, 2014.
Against the target of Rs. 800 crore deposit and Rs. 500 crore advances set by the government, the bank aims at collecting Rs. 1,000 crore deposits and lending Rs. 800 crore loan, she said.
About 300 people, including 100 on deputation from other banks, are working with the Mahila Bank and the bank aims to increase it to 500 by March. Though women employees constitute 80 per cent of the workforce, the bank cannot shut doors for male employees, she added.
