NEXT WIN
& SOLUTIONS PVT.LTD has introduced Bank Sakhi (First in its own kind)
Model in Khandwa and Narmadapuram
District Madhya Pradesh – NEXT WIN & SOLUTIONS PVT.LTD Bank Sakhi is all about Empowering women to drive
financial inclusion Poor rural women (who are also SHG members) working as Bank
Agents and providing a range of financial services to their community – this
has become a reality for almost 30 women catering their services to nearly
25,000 bank customers in rural community.
As a part
of the Rural Financial Institutions Programme (RFIP), NEXT WIN
& SOLUTIONS PVT.LTD initiated this project in Dec-2022-23 to overcome
a major challenge in ensuring financial inclusion of rural low-income
households: the last mile service delivery. Dormant agents and inactive
accounts pose a critical challenge to the otherwise very successful financial
inclusion drive of the Indian Government (18 million bank accounts were opened
in just one week after the launch of the newest financial inclusion programme –
the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). Individual women along with
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are community-based groups of mainly women who come
together to save and lend each other small amounts of loans. RFIP connected
these two major programmes in India using community-based networks and their
members as bank agents to improve the effectiveness of financial inclusion.
The approach has been tested through two pilot projects in geographically
diverse locations Khandwa District and
Narmadapuram (Hoshangabad) District of Madhya Pradesh. The experience from the
twin pilots has demonstrated better performance of Bank Sakhis vis-à-vis
conventional agents through lower dormancy, fewer inactive accounts and lower
agent attrition level combined with high customer satisfaction. Furthermore, by
having an SHG member as the local bank agent, all SHG related transactions,
which have been handled largely outside before, get included into the formal
financial system .
A Bank Sakhi is someone who has been an individual or an SHG member involved in
conducting banking and book-keeping activities of the group. As a Bank Sakhi,
she provides a range of financial services on behalf of the bank to her community
and is supported by the local SHG federation which provides capacity
development, training, and financial awareness in the community. She is paid a
commission by the bank for different services, which covers her costs and
provides her with an income.
However, the impact of this approach goes beyond performance related numbers -
it empowers women. The Bank Sakhis have gained tremendously in terms of
recognition by their families and the community at large since they have taken
on this job. They are able to cross social and cultural barriers by offering
services to the whole community. About 70% of the Bank Sakhis’ customers are
women. They visit their community and distribute pensions in their locality and
spread news for awareness of various bank products time to time. This drive
puts a remarkable strength in these women to become strong and reliable bank
agents who serve their customers responsibly, financial inclusion becomes much
more effective and actually reaches out to the excluded strata.