This New York organisation is empowering low-income women in India through financial inclusion – YourStory

In the first UN World Conference on Women held in Mexico City in 1975 a group of women discussed the idea of financial independence for women and how it could give them control over their own lives.

At the time, this was almost a dream for many women, even in the United States, who started owning a credit card, thanks to the Credit Opportunity Act of 1974.

In a bid to make women more financially independent, three women Michaela Walsh, Merrill Lynch, US; Ela Bhatt, Self-Employed Womens Association (SEWA), India; and Esther Ocloo, a Ghanaian entrepreneur and womens development advocate founded Womens World Banking (WWB) in 1976.

WWB strongly believes financial inclusion is the key to driving economic empowerment for women, and through them, their communities.And the issue is as important now as it was in 1976.

In an interaction with SocialStory, Pallavi Tewari-Madhok, Director Advisory Services, WWB - India, says,

Pallavi Tewari-Madhok

With a global reach in 28 countries with 51 partners, WWB provides scalable, market-driven solutions to over 67 million women clients. Our direct beneficiaries are low-income women, girls, and youth in developing countries, but indirectly, everyone benefits, Pallavi says.

By 2022, the New York-headquartered organisation plans to scale its operations and reach at least eight million more un/underserved women in India.

The lack of access to financial services worsens a womans condition in society. They risk falling into poverty and getting marginalised. In fact, it doesnt allow them to fully engage in productive economic activities.

WWB seeks to drive economic growth around the world by investing in women. It focusses on expanding the economic assets, participation, and power of low-income women and their households by helping them access financial services, knowledge, and markets effectively.

WWB achieves this through research around financial inclusion, influencing policymakers toimplement initiatives necessary to support women, investing in women-focused institutions to support gender diversity, and by delivering strong leadership programmes to enhance the capabilities of women leaders.

According to a McKinsey report, if women were to have economic parity with men by 2025, it would boost the global GDP by up to $28 trillion the size of both the US and China's GDPs combined.

The 45-year-old institution started its operations in India only about two years back in 2018. Over the past few years, India has pushed out numerous government schemes for financial inclusion, including the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). In fact, many small and new financial service platforms are reaching out to underbanked women customers.

Despite this, India posses a massive market opportunity to serve nearly 278 million underbanked women, which is why the country is among WWBs Tier I priority markets, explains Pallavi. At present, WWB caters to nearly 22 million women in India, which includes low-income women, women SHGs, and women enterprises.

Currently, it is working to build the resilience of urban low-income women by nudging them to start saving in their Jan Dhan accounts through the PMJDY scheme.

One of the customers of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank.

Nisha, a PMJDY customer in Mumbai, says, I mostly used to make payments in the Beesi (chit fund) with my neighbours. I liked the scheme, and they offered me a loan. So, I made deposits in April, May, June, and July.

In India, WWB is present across Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, and operates through a network of seven financial service providers (FSPs), including public sector banks, payments banks, small finance banks, fintech companies, and non-governmental microfinance institutions. These include Ananya Finance, FWWB, SEWA Bank, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kaleidofin, and Frontier Market.

It has also forged three partnerships in India supported by the Visa Foundation and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) with the Bank Of Baroda, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, and FINO Payments Bank.

To help with its operations, WWB depends on various government and private entities for funding, which includes the Visa Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Australian government, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and several other public donors, corporate foundations, and philanthropic organisations.

In fact, it also raises money from the donations made on its website to support its women empowerment efforts.

To achieve greater scale, WWB plans to mobilise the FSPs (in the network and beyond) to adopt our proven solutions that match their needs and that of the customers they serve. These efforts could range from publishing in-depth guides, convening hands-on instructional workshops to a light strategic advisory, and providing initial guidance on how to implement solutions while contextualising them to meet each institutions needs, she explains.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a much-needed boost to the WWB to work harder than before to help women build personal and financial resilience.

The organisation is increasing its engagement with its global network of 51 banks, insurance companies, and micro-finance institutions to help them deliver the support that WWBs women clients need at present.

Representational image

We also launched the Making Finance Work for Women Fintech Innovation Challenge in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to shine a light on fintech companies that are developing gender-inclusive solutions to serve low-income women in the wake of COVID-19, she adds.

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This New York organisation is empowering low-income women in India through financial inclusion - YourStory