Question: Bharatiya Mahila Bank is a …
(a) Private sector bank
(b) Public sector bank
(c) based on PPP
(d) None of the above.
Ans: (b)
- According to a press release by the Finance Ministry dated 20th March, 2017, the Government of India has decided to merge the Bharatiya Mahila Bank with the State Bank of India to ensure greater banking services outreach to women.
- This will help in achieving the objectives of affordable credit to women as at fast pace.
- The decision to merge Bharatiya Mahila Bank with SBI has been taken in view of the advantage of the large network of SBI among other things.
- In the three years since Bharatiya Mahila Bank was established, it has extended loans of Rs 192 crores to women borrowers, while the SBI group has provided loans of about Rs.46,000 crore to women borrowers.
- SBI has a large outreach of more than 20,000 branches and lowest cost of funds in the sector. Out of the total workforce of around 2 lakh employees in SBI, 22% are women. SBI group already has 126 exclusive all-women branches across the country while Bharatiya Mahila Bank has only seven.
- The proportion of administrative and managerial cost in Bharatiya Mahila Bank is much higher to reach the same coverage. For the same cost, a much higher volume of loans to women could be given through SBI.
- It is to be noted that Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd is the first of its kind in the Banking Industry in India formed with a vision of economic empowerment for women. This public sector bank was incorporated under the Companies Act 1956 on 5 August 2013. It is headquartered in New Delhi.
Reference:
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=159575