Ahmedabad-based Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank Ltd., the micro-finance wing of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), aims to increase its banking business manifold in the next five years and the organisation is banking on its expertise, experience and the goodwill of the women from urban poor class. | |
| The bank, which claim to be the pioneer in introducing micro-finance to the urban poor woman, believes that the growing network of the bank and continued awareness campaigns will also be helpful in growing its business. |
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| Talking to Business Standard about the future plans of the bank and its banking business Jayshreeben Vyas, the managing director of the bank said, "There are three lakh self-employed women who are banking with us. The total business of the bank as on March 31 is Rs 100 crore. Our aim is to grow this business to Rs 250 crore within the next five years. For that we are banking on the goodwill we have managed to get from these poor women and also to our growing network and the continued awareness programmes throughout the year." |
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| "We have tremendous expertise in micro-finance and experience since 1974. We also have schemes for these women specially designed to meet their requirement. From time to time we carry out surveys to find out their requirements and introduce new schemes which encourage these women to save money. More branches have also been planned across the state which will get more business." |
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| The bank which came into existence in May 1974 has three lakh self-employed women clients and one major branch in Ahmedabad. Recently, the bank got RBI approval for opening three more branches in Ahmedabad. The bank is planning to open its branches in smaller cities like Rajkot, Bhuj, Surat and Vadodara to get maximums business from these cities. |
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| The bank has almost 11 products in banking including pension scheme, fixed deposit, recurring, bonds, Chinta Nivaran yojana for savings for accidental expenditure, Mangal Prasang Yojana for saving for marriages, Ghar Fund Yojana for saving for the house, Jivan Asha for general savings, Kishori Gold Yojana for saving to buy ornaments and Annpurna Yojana for general expenditures. |
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| Talking about the increasing awareness among the poor self-employed women of Gujarat Vyas said that there are four stages of banking in the SEWA Bank. |
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| "When most of these women come to us they have a lot of debts on them which they have taken from moneylenders. We advice them to save for the repayment of these debts. We also give them loans to repay the debts. In the second stage they begin saving for themselves, in the third stage they save and take loans for buying equipment and in the last stage they take loans from us to improve their living standards like buying or renovation of home, getting electricity and water connection in their homes. By the time they reach the fourth stage they are self reliant and debtless." |
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