The proportion of women employees has increased over the past year in all but one public sector bank, and as many as three banks now have 30% or more women on their payrolls, according to data shared by the Minister of State for Finance, Bhagwat Karad, in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
As of February 28, 2023, Indian Overseas Bank had the highest share of female staffers in their total staff strength at 36%, followed by Canara Bank (31.6%) and Punjab & Sindh Bank, whose share moved up from 29.3% in March 2022 to 30% in the first 11 months of 2022-23.
While Bank of Baroda’s share of female staffers has remained static over the past year at 26.2%, the Central Bank of India recorded the sharpest uptick among the 11 other public sector banks this year, moving up from 24.3% to 25.2%. On an average, the remaining 10 banks have raised their share of female staffers by about 0.3 percentage points so far this year.
Responding to a query from parliamentarian P. Ravindranath on whether any all-women branches can be expected in the public sector following the merger of Bharatiya Mahila Bank with the State Bank of India, Mr. Karad said: “Public sector banks have informed that there is no proposal regarding reintroduction of ‘all women bank branches’ under consideration.”
