SBI Reports that Women now Account for 35 Percent of New Bank Deposits

By: WE Staff | Friday, 1 July 2022

According to a State Bank of India (SBI) study, the proportion of women depositors in new bank deposits climbed to 35% in FY22 from 15% in FY21, a remarkable gain of 20 percentage points.

“Even if we consider the share of women depositors in FY22 over FY20 (as FY21 was an exceptional year) in incremental bank deposits, the share increased by 6 percentage points,” the report stated. According to the analysis based on population-group data, rural areas are the main source of new women depositors, according to the report.

SBI claims that between FY20 and FY22, the percentage of women depositors in additional rural deposits climbed from 37% to 66%.

“Rural areas are followed by semi-urban ones. Interestingly, with some of the states making it mandatory that transfer of monetary resources can only be given to a women depositor, it is likely that the share of women depositors will continue to stay buoyant in bank deposits,” it further said.

“Since 2014, with the advent of PMJDY, the financialisaton of women is gaining traction. Both women depositors and women borrowers have increased in the country as a lot of policies and missions based on lifecycle approach for women have been implemented by the government in the last 8 years,” it said.

The fact that women make up a larger percentage of all government-sponsored programmes is interesting to note. According to the research, women make up 81% of Stand-Up India participants, 71% of MUDRA loan participants, 37% of PMSBY participants, and 27% of PMJJBY participants.

“If we further dissect the data on the basis of bank-group wise figures, it is clear that the Regional Rural Banks are the major contributors in increased women depositors share. Even if we compare the FY22 data of RRBs over FY20, the share increased by substantial 60 percentage points,” it said.

The focus on opening accounts for all SHG members (instead of only the president and secretary previously) appears to be one of the potential explanations for the increased traction in the opening of women accounts, according to the state-run bank.

For instance, State Bank of India uses an internal software called DISA to open more sponsored RRB accounts, which benefits a lot of women in particular, it was said. The research added that compliance and due diligence are guaranteeing that accounts of men that were opened earlier in the liberalised era are getting closed more frequently, along with rigorous quarterly KYC reviews.

It's interesting to note that in FY22 compared to FY20, the proportion of female depositors in private sector banks and small finance institutions stayed stable.

In foreign banks, the proportion of women depositors fell by 11 percentage points. The research noted that it was interesting that PSBs showed the same degree of growth.

According to SBI, the state-by-state data shows that Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka are the top four major states where the share of female depositors grew in FY22 over FY20. It stated that the decreasing proportion of women depositors in areas like Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and a few North Eastern states is highly alarming and requires immediate course correction.