Mann Deshi Bank opens first branch in Pune

After the grand success of chamber of commerce, bank and business school for rural women entrepreneurs Mann Deshi Bank has now started its operations in urban areas by opening first branch Pune. The branch will help Mann Deshi to scale and expand its operations.

This will be the bank's seventh branch with other six branches in remote areas of Maharashtra like Mhaswad, Dahiwadi, Waduj, Godavale, Lonand and Satara. Most importantly, Mann Deshi have started operations where other banks were already present but had refused to accomodate lower income group individuals as their customers.

Speaking to Business Standard Chetana Gala Sinha , Founder Chairman Mann Deshi Bank said, "A large number of people have migrated to Dhayri area in Pune Pune from our current operational area Mann and Khatau Taluka in Satara district in search of employment. We will provide them efficient remittance services. This will facilitate immediate transfer of money from Pune to the family concerned at remote location in our operational area. In backward linkage program we will facilitate input supply and technical support to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency. The support includes both financial and technical assistance."

She added, " We have an ambitious target of reaching a million customers by 2020 . Although currently we have no plans to increase our branches this year , in future we will go for expansion of our branches after proper research . We would also think of expanding our products and services and adding new partner organizations as well as inorganic growth .

Mann Deshi has been heading pioneering efforts in the banking sector. It has been seen that Mann Deshi is the first rural women's bank with a pension scheme with UTI Mutual Fund, in Maharashtra..The net NPA of the Bank is 2 per cent and has a CRAR of 17.54 per cent . The bank has a deposit base of Rs 50 crore.

Mann Deshi was the first institution to set up a rural bank in India in 1997. Mann Deshi Foundation and the Bank are operating in Maharashtra and Karnataka. In 2006 Mann Deshi started the Business school program for rural women with the founding sponsor of HSBC.

The women entrepreneurs graduating from the Business School will benefit from the services of the Chamber of Commerce to conduct their business.

The bank has listed more than 1.80 lakh women as clients and the Business School enabled more than 46,000 women to benefit from the graduation program.

Also, Mann Deshi Foundation has also formed the first Mann Deshi Chamber of Commerce for Rural Women in India (MCCRW) in partnership with 'President Clinton Foundations' initiative - Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) based in New York, USA.