Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited opens branch in Hyderabad

Bharatiya Mahila BankThe Bharatiya Mahila Bank Limited, which is an all women bank established four months earlier, has opened a new branch in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Saturday.

BMB chairman and managing director UshaAnanthasubramanian said that the company will now focus on marketing activities this year in order to enter into the Indian banking sector. Even as the bank's target customers are women, she said that the bank is not against men customers and employees and pointed out that some of the branches are already run by male employees.

"We are going to focus on branding. We are even considering having mobile banking vans fitted with ATM machines to visit different locations at fixed timings for customer convenience as well as to familiarize people with our bank," Ananthasubramanian said. She was speaking on the side-lines of the event to inaugurate bank's 19th branch of the all-women bank in the country.

The bank started with an initial capital investment of Rs 1,000 crore. The bank has said that it has a target of 70 per cent lending towards women and said that it will work closely with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and self-help groups (SHGs) to reach borrowers in rural areas.