A recent report by SBI Ecowrap has highlighted the sustainable empowerment of women across states through better connect with credit dispensation, incremental savings through PMJDY, and higher participation share in MGNREGA.

Citing RBI’s report on ‘Deposits with Scheduled Commercial Banks’ released in March, the report said the overall deposits of SCB increased by 10.2 per cent, with incremental annual deposits of Rs 17.6 lakh crore.

Interestingly, though the share of individuals in total deposits declined during the year, the share of women customers in total deposits continued to increase to 20.5 per cent in the year ending Mar’23, the report highlighted.

“This has been possible owing to the government’s efforts towards women empowerment,” it said.

Overall the per capita women deposits increased by Rs 4618 in the last five years. Rural areas are the major source of women’s deposits. The share of women deposits in overall rural deposits has increased in the post-pandemic period to 30 per cent in FY23 from 25 per cent in FY19 (pre-pandemic year).

The bank-group-wise figures show that the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) continue to be the major contributors in increased women deposits share. Women deposits account for a 50% share in incremental deposits in RRBs during FY19 and FY23.

Age-wise distribution of total deposits given by RBI shows customers in the age group of 40-60 years account for 37 per cent (Rs 34.7 lakh crore) of the deposits by individuals.

Within this, women account for 39% (Rs 37 lakh crore) of individual deposits.

State-wise analysis indicates that women have more than 35 per cent share in incremental deposits between FY23 and FY19 in states like Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Telangana lie at the other end with a low share of women deposits in respective incremental deposits.

The report highlighted that the state-wise rate of participation of women under MGNREGS during FY23 indicates while almost all major states have women participation of more than 33 per cent, in some of the states it was less than the national average of 57.4 per cent.

While for another key government scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), 55 per cent of the total beneficiaries are women.