An investigation into the imminent role of banking sector inredefining and strengthening women empowerment-An inclusive approach Aggarwal Priyanka Assistant Professor, Lingaya's university Online published on 20 September, 2018. Abstract This research paper attempts to understand and highlight the importance and need of women empowerment for the accelerated growth of the Economy of India. As women are an integral part of the society; thus, empowerment of women is one of very important issues in developing countries. Although many significant initiatives have been taken up in urban areas in recent past, but still women in India remain underprivileged and deprived of equal opportunities in terms of education, employment and skill development as compared to men especially in rural areas. Indian Banking Sector, which is one of the primary pillars of Indian economy, plays a significant role in this regard. One such effort is the microfinance intervention for small scale women entrepreneurs. Banking and other finance institutions aim to provide credit on low interest rates to such women who have no access to commercial Banks. All major public as well as private sector banks have announced women centric and women only financing and loan schemes for setting up of small scale women entrepreneur. Be it providing concessional interest rate on loans, or providing higher rates of returns on deposits, or schemes related to educational financing at a very early age or financial assistance for setting up livelihood or stable source of income; banks have always played a very important role in enhancing financial inclusion of women in the Indian economy. Vide this research paper the researcher proposes to discuss and assess some of the steps being taken by the banks to empower the women in India. The said objective will be achieved by studying the policies that have been initiated by the banks and to suggest any improvement thereto. In particular, two steps will be discussed in detail; one is self-help groups and Bhartiya Mahila Bank. Top Keywords Women entrepreneur, Role of Banking, Women empowerment, Bhartiya Mahila Bank, SHG, micro-enterprises. Top |