Only 21% money in bank accounts belongs to women, shows NSO data

Shows only 36% bank accounts are held by women

Only a fifth of the total amount of bank deposits in the country belongs to women account holders, even though every third bank account is owned by a woman, according to the latest “Men and Women” report released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). This highlights the significant financial disparities that exist between men and women in the country.

Data shows that as of March 2023, the share of accounts belonging to women stood at 36.4 per cent (917.7 million) of the total 2.52 billion individual accounts. These individual accounts include accounts belonging to Hindu undivided families, resident individuals, farmers, traders, professionals and self-employed people, wage and salary earners, among others.

On the other hand, the share of total money deposited in the accounts belonging to women stood at 20.8 per cent (Rs 39 trillion) of the total Rs 187 trillion.

The disparity in financial status is stark in metropolitan areas as only 16.5 per cent (Rs 1.9 trillion) of the total amount deposited belongs to women, while 30 per cent (Rs 5.91 trillion) of the money deposited in rural areas belongs to women. This could also be due to the wide proliferation of Jan Dhan accounts in rural and semi-urban India.

Meanwhile, the report also notes that only one in every four employees working in the banks is a female, as the total number of women working in banks stood at 441,000 in comparison to 1.32 million male employees.

Besides, the report also provides information regarding employment of women in corporate decision-making. It notes that only 34,879 women held senior management positions in 2023 as compared to 186,000 men.

A total of 762,000 women were part of the board of directors as opposed to 1.9 million men. In other managerial positions in corporate firms, there were 738,000 women as compared to 1.86 million men, the data sourced from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for the report showed.

Though the number of women in senior management positions has increased from 23,685 in 2017 to 34,879 in 2023, the corresponding increase for men from 150,300 to 186,900 has been more in terms of percentage.

While senior management positions include chief executive officer, chief financial officer, company secretary, managing director, manager and whole-time director, middle management positions include additional director, alternate director, nominee director and director.