Indian government to invest US$182m for a women’s bank

The bank will open in October.

Most employees of this ground-breaking bank will also be women. Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the bank will open this October and will have a government investment of US$182 million.

Supporters of the women’s bank say it will encourage greater use of banks and financial institutions in India most of whose population do not have savings accounts in banks. The new bank will be broadly similar to Bangladesh’s famous Grameen Bank that only lends to women.

The government noted that less than half of 1.2 billion Indians have a bank account and women account holders make up only 12%. Most bank depositors live in big cities.

Opening a women's bank is the latest in a series of government measures with the goal of promoting gender equality. Public demand for these steps has been strong, especially in the wake of the gang rape in New Delhi in December 2012 that shocked India.