Financial Services and Women Empowerment in Rural Maharashtra In India, the term Financial Inclusion was first introduced in 2005 and that too, from a pilot project in UT of Pondichery, by K. C. Chakraborthy, the chairman of Indian Bank. Financial inclusion is considered as one of the important indicator of inclusive growth. So in recent years the Indian government is giving top priority to financial inclusion. The basic concept of financial inclusion in a country like India is having a saving or current account with any bank. But in reality it includes loans, insurance services and much more. Those persons who are having a current account / savings account and are using it only for deposits and withdrawals of money are the one who are restricted access to the financial system and does not enjoy the flexibility of access to the financial services and products which are offered by the banks. These persons are not considered as a precise gauge of financial inclusion. Therefore, financial inclusion includes accessing of financial products and services like, Savings facility Credit and debit cards access Electronic fund transfer All kinds of commercial loans Overdraft facility Cheque facility Payment and remittance services Low cost financial services Insurance Financial advice Pension for old age and investment schemes Access to financial markets Micro credit during emergency Entrepreneurial credit
In simple words, financial inclusion is the availability/delivery of banking services to underprivileged segment and low income people with affordable cost. The main aim of financial inclusion is to extend the scope of activities of the organised financial system to include within its ambit people with low incomes. According to Usha Thorat (2006), financial inclusion means Provision of affordablefinancial services viz., access to payments and remittance facilities, savings, loans and insurance services by the formal financial system to those who tend to be excluded. A committee on Financial Inclusion was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan (2008) and that committee defined the term as The process of access to financial services, and timely and adequate credit needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost. As we all know that there is a patriarchal society in India where women are always underestimated and discriminated section of the society. They are deprived in all spheres of life whether it will be their family and social life or their economic and political life. This is just because they are economically dependent on men folk and it is mostly observed in rural areas. Empowerment of rural women is very necessary for the development of society. Women is empowered when she is valued or treated as a normal human being of society who has a freedom to participate in public activities. Women who are educated are empowered because they know their rights. As our Constitution provides so many fundamental rights to women. But women of rural areas are mostly illiterate so they were not given any rights, they are supposed to do domestic work and look after the children. The word Women Empowerment has gained its importance in the ninth five-year plan of the country and that year (2001) is declared as Women Empowerment Year. In general, women empowerment refers to an increase in economic, social, spiritual and political strength of women which boosts their self confidence and self esteem, decision making power, better access to resources, improved ability to learn skills and a positive attitude above all. According to United Nations (2001), empowerment is The process by which women take control and ownership of their lives through expansion of their choices.
Empowerment in its broadest sense is the Expansion of freedom of choice and action. (Narayan, 2002). In spite of the fact that in so many parts of India women are still confined only to the four walls of houses performing household activities. This does not mean that they are not able to do activities like academics, politics, administration, social work and so on. Therefore, whenever a women got an opportunity to prove herself to the world she manifested that she is second to none and also shown as a better saver and loan repayers than men. All this shows that there is a need of financial inclusion for empowering rural women. As woman s needs are closely linked to their socially defined gender roles, responsibilities, and social structures. So, the government of India is concentrating on the issue of women empowerment through financial inclusion to bring a socio economic change in the society. Despite a Government s approach to improve access to financial inclusion in India, research shows that in comparison to men, women are largely financially excluded. The Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database suggests that only 26% of female adults in India have an account with a formal financial institution as compared to 44% of male adults (World Bank 2014). In Indian society, as we can see that all the people of the society whether males or females are taking advantage of public goods and services except banking services. Hence banking services too should be available for all without any bias. So it is the duty of the government to see that the banking services should be offered to all people. 2} SELECTION OF RESEARCH TOPIC In ancient India, women are manifested as emblems of Shakti and her many forms were worshipped. Wealth is there in women; hence they are directly called Lakshmi or Annapurna. This shows that women s have potential to earn a livelihood and help in improving the lives of their family and the community they live in. But from traditional to still in modern societies, women in rural India face problems like domestic violence, dowry harassment, sexual harassment, restricted to four walls of houses performing only domestic duties, etc. Empowerment means moving from a position of enforced powerlessness to one of power which is still a cry in a country like India, where women constitute approximately 48% of the total population. According to the World Bank report improving access to economic
opportunities for women is considered as one of the key priority areas for development. This indicate the need for empowering women in India with financial and life skills. But it has been found that most of women are financially excluded. They are considered as underprivileged in many socio economic activities. Although they have a capabilities of participating in all spheres of life but they are always being a very large undeserved potential market. This is not because they are in minority but majority of them are marginalized in our country. As empowerment of rural women improves their social status in society as well as in family, they will have participation in family decisions which will boost their self confidence. Therefore, the researcher is interested to study about the availability and usefulness of financial inclusion for empowering rural women of Pune District in terms of self - employment. 3} SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY From the literature review, I have understood the concept of Financial Inclusion very well. But in India there is a major problem of gender inequality in financial inclusion. It has been found that financial services are used only by a small number of rural women. There is a financial exclusion in India especially of rural women. So for the empowerment of rural women financial inclusion is the best way. It helps them in creating self employment. The study is important to know about how far the financial inclusion is available in rural areas and how it is useful for rural women. If the problem of women s financial exclusion is solved, then the financial inclusion also helps the country in achieving a comparatively healthy GDP growth rates and also for achieving inclusive growth. Therefore, it is important to study financial inclusion in empowering rural women. This study is related to banking, finance and growth. Since it studies the issues related to women empowerment, it naturally inclines the study from socio economic point of view. Internationally also efforts are being made to study the causes of financial exclusion and design strategies to ensure financial inclusion of the poor and disadvantaged particularly women in rural areas. In a sense the study is multidisciplinary in nature. It will benefit the students and researchers of economics, commerce, management and banking field. This study will also help the Government and RBI for policy making.
4} OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The study has the main objectives: - 1. To find out the availability of financial products and services in rural areas and to what extent it reaches to the rural women. 2. To understand about the awareness created regarding various financial services available to, and obtained by women in rural areas. 3. To analyse the preferences given by the women about the types of financial products available to them in rural areas. 4. To study how financial inclusion helps women of rural areas in creating self employment. 5. To highlight the success of various financial institutions in empowering rural women and also achieving the goals of financial inclusion in rural areas of Maharashtra. 5} HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY Following hypothesis are considered for the present research study: - Hypothesis I Rural women are aware of various financial services and products. Hypothesis II Financial inclusion empowers the rural women. 6} REVIEW OF LITERATURE An attempt in this section has been made by the researcher to review some important research studies. I. Financial Inclusion and Women Empowerment: A Myth or Reality byanju Batra, International Journal of Research in Finance and Marketing, Vol 3, (Dec 2013) - The importance of financial inclusion for the economy of the country forced the Government of India (Ministry of Finance), Reserve Bank of India and NABARD for adopting different measures for the financial inclusion & their target was to achieve the 100% financial inclusion in the country by the end of 2012. In this empirical paper the researcher studied how far the efforts of the various financial institution has been successful in empowering women & what knowledge a women have about microfinance.
II. Pratisha Padmasri Deka in her research article on Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion for Women Empowerment: A Study, International Journal of Applied Research (2015) - deals with Significance of women s financial inclusion; Specific financial needs of women s in respect to men s; Functions of finance and role of women; Growth, development and financial inclusion; Financial literacy as a tool for women empowerment; Institutional framework in India for financial education; Economic and social development of women and financial inclusion; Gender inequality and lack of access to financial services; Certain issues and aspects related with financial inclusion and women empowerment. The paper shows women empowerment through financial inclusion and financial literacy. III. Women Empowerment through Microfinance Intervention in the Commercial Banks by Dr. Sangeeta Arora, Reader, Ms Meenu, Research Scholar; Department of Commerce and Business Management, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India - This paper made an attempt to understand the socio economic empowerment of women through microfinance in the Jalandhar district of Punjab. The objective of this empirical study was to analyse the use of micro financial services by the women clients and access their level of satisfaction with regards to these services. IV. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (2010) said financial inclusion was a key determinant of sustainable and inclusive growth which could unlock the vast hidden potential of savings consumption and investment propensities of the poorer sections of society. V. Financial Inclusion: A Study on the Self Help Groups (SHGs) in West Bengal by Dr. Sajal Maiti, Dr. Sudipti Banerjee, Dr. Amit Mujumbar and Anirban Sorkar The study initially explains the cycle of inclusion and exclusion and the attempts to assess the progress of SHGs in West Bengal, the social and economic impact of SHGs in West Bengal. The study leads to the conclusion that i. SHGs are playing a vital role in the rural empowerment. 7} METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY Type of Research The Research design is exploratory and descriptive in nature. Information is collected with the help of a structured and well - designed questionnaire.
Data Collection The researcher has used both Primary data and Secondary data for the purpose of study. The Secondary data is collected from different books, magazines, journals, articles, bulletins of different banks, periodicals, annual reports of banking institutions, articles in the newspapers, published and unpublished data related to the subject. The sources and research material available in NIBM library, Dhananjay Gadgil Library of GIPE, Women s Study Center and Jaykar Granthalaya of Pune University, were specially referred for collection of Secondary data. Primary data is collected on the basis of sample survey method. In order to give proportional representation of the population concerned, random selection of self employed women in concerned villages is done. For collecting the data required for the research study a systematically designed questionnaire is used, keeping the objectives in mind. The questionnaire was administered by preparing an interview schedule on the basis of which questions are asked. Each of the respondents is interviewed on standard structured questions. It is assumed that the use of this method satisfies the basic purpose of measurement that is of making information comparable from case to case. Area of Sampling The study is carried out in two villages of two different talukas in Maharashtra (Pune and Satara) Stratified and random sampling method is used for sampling to collect primary data. Population and Sample Size Although there are many self employed women s in the study area, but the researcher has taken minimum 100 women s from two villages of two talukas in Pune district and 100 women s from two villages of two talukas in Satara District. The sample size is considered as 200 rural women s for the present research study. 8} LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 1. The research study is limited in two villages of two different talukas each in Pune and Satara district. 2. The universe of the study is rural women. 3. The study is applicable only to self employed rural women s in concerned villages.
REFERENCES 1) Kothari C. R., Research Methodology Methods and Techniques, New Delhi, New International (P) Limited, Publishers, (2011). 2) Dr. Pulidindi Venugopal, Financial Inclusion and Women Empowerment: A Study on Women s Perception of East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, Vit Business School, Vit University, Vellore, International Journal of Research in Commerce and Management, (2012). 3) Mrs. Eli Kumari Das, Ms. Dharitri Baishya, Role of Self Help Groups in Empowering Rural Women: A Case study on Selected SHGs in Rani Block of Kamrup District of Assam, Beltola College, Gauhati University, International Journal of Economics and Finance, (2015). 4) Pratisha Padmasri Deka, Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion for Women Empowerment: A Study, Cotton College, Guwahati, Assam, India, International Journal of Applied Research, (2015). 5) Anju Batra, Financial Inclusion and Women Empowerment: A Myth or Reality, Faculty, Delhi Institute of Advanced Studies, Rohini, Delhi 85, International Journal of Research in Finance and Marketing, (2013).