What is Bharatiya Mahila Bank?

Bhartiya Mahila Bank  is  India’s first and only All Woman Bank. It was inaugurated on November 19 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Bank is intended to provide easy banking services to women in particular and can be used by men also. The Bank would focus on the banking needs of women and promote economic empowerment through women’s growth and developments.

The  Headquarters of Bhartiya Mahila Bank  is at New Delhi, but the first operational branch would be at  Air India building at Nariman Point in Mumbai. The other branches would be at  Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Indore.

The number of branches is expected to reach 25 by March 2014 and 500 by end of 13th 5- year plan period (2017).

The Bank  plans to open a modest 33,400 accounts through 39 branches in first 12 months.

The Bank is fully nationalized and would be owned by Government of India with initial capital of about Rs 1,000 crores. As per reports, the bank would give 4.5% interest on savings accounts up to Rs.1 lakh and 5% for above Rs1 lakh.

FIS Global, in partnership with Wipro is expected to provide IT Systems and Services to the bank.

Usha Ananthasubramanian, who  was executive director of Punjab National Bank, has been appointed as its Chairman and MD.  She started her career in 1982 at Bank of Baroda as a specialist officer in the planning stream.She holds a dual master’s degree – in statistics from the Madras University and in ancient Indian culture from the Mumbai University.

The Bank would have Male employee also. As per reports, nearly 35% of its probationary officers are male.