Women bank to be launched on Indira Gandhi's birthday

Plans are afoot to launch the country's first all women bank -- Bharatiya Mahila Bank-- on November 19, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.  "We have asked the Election Commission...it (the bank) might be as well inaugurated on November 19. All work has been completed. 
"But whether we can do it on November 19, whether we can do it in Delhi or in other city, these are matters my secretary is talking to the Election Commission," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at a press conference here.  The government is seeking Election Commission's nod for launch of the bank, proposed in the Union Budget, as the process of assembly elections in five states, including Delhi, is on. 

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Men still have a role to play in Mahila Bank

While men may be precluded from taking a loan from it, they have not been left out when it comes to employment in India’s first ‘Mahila’ (women’s) public sector bank. Men account for about 36 per cent of the candidates found provisionally eligible for appointment as Probationary Officers in the Bharatiya Mahila Bank. 
The probationary officer post is an entry-level position in the officer’s grade in public sector banks. Bharatiya Mahila Bank had advertised 115 vacancies for this rank last month, and selected 103 candidates, according to the results notification. Headquartered in Delhi, the bank, which will focus on the banking needs of women and promote their economic empowerment, is gearing up to become operational next month.

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Arundhati Bhattacharya to Archana Bhargava: A look at women achievers in PSU banks

When Finance Minister P Chidambaramfloated the idea of an exclusive bank for women in his last Union budget, he may not have imagined that he would be signing on the appointment of Arundhati Bhattacharyafor the chair of the nation's biggest bank, State Bank of India, and that the Federal Reserve of the US will be run by a woman. Bhattacharya's appointment is a continuation of a revolution of sorts in the banking industry, especially the state-run lenders.

Finance was the happening place for women much before they rose to the corner offices in other industries. ICICI, the nation's biggest private bank, is a women executives factory, churning out many like Lalita Gupte, Kalpana Morparia, Chanda Kochhar, Shikha Sharma and Renuka Ramnath.

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With a woman at helm, fairer HR policies likely at SBI

Female employees at SBI can look forward to fairer HR policies as the bank's first woman chief Arundhati Bhattacharya today hinted at allowing staff to avail of long sabbaticals, among other initiatives. "Being a woman myself, I think womenemployees have special problems. I will definitely try to be more sensitive to that," Bhattacharya said at her maiden interaction with reporters after taking over the reins of the country's biggest bank. 

The 57-year-old Bhattacharya also hinted at easing transfer norms for couples, saying the organisation has to understand the changing work environment and culture wherein both partners work. 

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Bharatiya Mahila Bank to recruit 115 probationary officers

Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the first nationalised bank for women expected to be operational from November, intends to recruit 115 officers initially. The bank has invited applications through the online mode from female candidates for 115 posts. Candidates can apply online till September 30. The female applicants must be graduates in any faculty from any reputed and recognised university with good knowledge of the basics of computers, says an advertisement by the bank.

Bharatiya Mahila Bank proposes to complete the first six branches at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Indore and Guwahati by October 15. The Government has already approved Rs 1,000-crore seed capital for the women focused public sector bank, announced by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his Budget speech. The Government is also on the look out for locations to set up the branches, including at Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mysore and Indore.

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Wipro-US firm team leads race for Rs 1,000-cr Mahila Bank deal

US-based FIS Global, in partnership with Wipro, is leading the race for a Rs 1,000-crore contract to provide IT systems at the country’s first women-focussed bank, it is reliably learnt.

OTHER MAJOR BIDDER

The five-year project entails setting up and managing a core banking application and other technology infrastructure for the Bhartiya Mahila Bank, a brainchild of the Government of India. Infosys, which had partnered with IBM, was the other major bidder for this deal. The names of Polaris Financial Technology and HP too were doing the rounds, however this could not be corroborated. Much to the surprise of industry watchers, the country’s largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services did not bid for the project. The FIS-Wipro combine is believed to have quoted Rs 900 crore for the project, while the others have bid upwards of Rs 1,100 crore. FIS Global, a provider of core banking solutions, is said to be the lead bidder for the project as Wipro does not have strong core banking capabilities.

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Mahila Bank to have pay-per-use IT infra model

Being the country’s first women’s bank is not the only factor that sets Bharatiya Mahila Bank apart from other lenders. It’s set to become a trendsetter by adopting a technology infrastructure model based on per-usage payment system — the first time by an Indian bank. The bank, expected to start operations in eight cities from November, is currently in the process of finalising its IT vendor. Official sources say three technology companies — Infosys, US-based technology firm FIS Global and Polaris Financial Technology — are in the fray for the ambitious project, to be based on the hosting model.

According to the terms and conditions, the selected service provider will own the hardware and software of the entire bank and will be paid on a per-branch-per-month basis. While FIS’ bid is said to be worth Rs 900 crore, Infosys might have quoted Rs 1,400 crore for the seven-year contract.

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All women bank to have 25 branches by fiscal-end

Government plans to set up about 25 branches of the proposed public sector Bharatiya Mahila Bank, India's first allwomen bank, by the end of this fiscal.

"The Bharatiya Mahila Bank proposes to complete the first six branches at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Indore and Guwahati by October 15 and take the total to 25 by March 31, 2014," an official said.  The government has already approved Rs 1,000 crore seed capital for the women focused public sector bank, announced by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his budget speech. 

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Government to seek Parliament nod for Rs 1,000 cr for Mahila Bank

The government said it will seek Parliament approval for allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for setting Bhartiya Mahila Bank Ltd. 

"It is proposed to solicit the approval of the Cabinet to include the allocation of Rs 1,000 crore to the Women's Bank in the first Supplementary to be approved in the current Monsoon Session of Parliament," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. 

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Biz plan in the works for first women’s bank

This could be another instance of women power on display.

The proposed ‘Women Only’ bank, announced by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his Budget speech of 2013, may not pose a serious competitive threat to other public sector banks, but it could nevertheless wean away women customers, both existing and new comers.

The business plan of the new bank, which is in the making, envisages a steady ramp up of its branch and ATM networks across the country.

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Bhartiya Mahila Bank to start services with six branches from November 1

After the ordinance on the food security law, the government is set to push through another populist measure, this time specifically for women. Called Bhartiya Mahila Bank, a women's bank headquartered in Delhi will start services with six branches from November 1.

The finance ministry has set up a core management team to coordinate the process of setting up the bank, a senior official told ET. "It has been decided that the bank will be called the Bhartiya Mahila Bank as it will have connect with rural India, which was the main idea behind setting up a women's bank," said the official, who did not want to be named.

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RBI gives in-principle nod for an all-women bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its in-principle approval for the Central Government to set up the country’s first all-women bank.

The proposed all-women bank will be the first ever commercial bank to be floated by the Central Government.

It is expected to have a pan-India presence with six branches to start-with. The headquarters for the all-women bank is likely to come up at New Delhi. The Central Government will initially pump in Rs 1,000 crore as paid-up capital of the bank.

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Finance Ministry to soon seek Cabinet's nod for all-women bank

The Finance Ministry will soon approach the Cabinet for approval to set up India's first all-women bank, entailing Rs 1,000 crore initial investment. 

A Cabinet note has been circulated for theall-women bank and the matter is likely to be considered by the Cabinet soon, sources said. 

The all-women bank, proposed in the Budget, would be wholly-owned by the government and is expected to start operations from November, 2013 through six branches in different parts of the country. 

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FinMin seeks RBI approval for all-women bank

To make all-women bank a reality by October, the Finance Ministry has approached the Reserve Bank for clearance to set up the country’s first such bank.

“The committee set up to prepare the blueprint for all-women bank has submitted its report to the Finance Minister. We have sought in-principle approval from RBI for all women bank,” Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru told PTI.

The first all-women bank wholly-owned by Government is expected to start operations from November 2013 through six branches spread across the length and breadth of the country. Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said the bank will be inaugurated in November.

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RBI to meet PSU bank chiefs to draw blue print of first womens banks

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India is set to meet public sector bank chiefs on March 7 to draft modalities to launch India's first all womens bank. 

"RBI will be meeting public sector bank chiefs to discuss the modalities and structure of the bank. It would be modelled on IDBI BankBSE 2.12 % which was a private sector bank before it was merged withIDBI LtdBSE 2.12 % the development finance institution," said a banker in the know of the development. 

"It would be modelled on a private sector bank with thefunding coming from the government," he said. The finance minister P Chidambaram in his budget had announced that first all-women bank would start operations from November. 

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All-women bank to start operations from November: P Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: India's first all-women bank will start operations from November this year through six branches spread across the length and breadth of the country, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today. 

"It will be inaugurated in November. Initially we should start with at least one branch in each major region of this country, South, West, East, Centre, North and North-east. So that will mean immediately we should start with six branches," he told PTI in an interview. 

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A new bank for women, by women

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA/COIMATORE/MANGALORE, FEB. 28:  

In a first in the country’s history, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said India would have its first public sector Women’s Bank by this year-end.

Committing an initial capital of Rs 1,000 crore for this bank, Chidambaram even invited all Members of Parliament to its inauguration, once it gets necessary approvals and licence from the Reserve Bank, by October 2013.

“Women are at the head of many banks today, including two public sector banks, but there is no bank that exclusively serves women,” he said.

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