The RBIH Swanari (स्व-नारी) Program

In line with our vision of making finance accessible to a billion Indians, we are launching RBIH’s Swanari (स्व-नारी) program, which aims at enabling:

“Frictionless Finance for Every Woman in India”

Swanari Event

Day(s)

:

Hour(s)

:

Minute(s)

:

Second(s)

Venue: Radisson Blu, Bengaluru

Context

In the past decade, India has made unprecedented progress on various fronts in financial inclusion. While the gender-gap in bank account coverage is now officially closed, more nuanced data reveals a different picture. For example, more women tend to have inactive bank accounts than men, fewer women save within their bank accounts, women are much less likely to make and receive digital payments and women entrepreneurs continue to face a very high degree of friction in the access to quality of financial services.

While the challenges may be many, technology, frugal innovation, women solving women’s problems and partnerships and alliances have limitless power to solve intractable problems. RBIH is looking to leverage these tools to develop gender-inclusive financial products and services, supporting women’s advancement in their financial growth and independence.

The Launch of the SWANARI Program

On March 6 th 2023, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, RBIH will officially launch the Swanari program. A day-long event has been planned to bring together senior leaders and industry stalwarts to discuss and deliberate on issues related to access, usage and quality of financial services for women and women entrepreneurs.

The event will launch the Swanari Roadmap document which will outline the focus areas of this new vertical. This will be followed by the launch of four new pilot projects conceptualized by RBIH in partnership with Banks, FINTECHs and other technology service providers as follows:

  1. Bridging the Digital Payments Divide among Female Garment Workers
  2. Digitising Loan Disbursements under the PM-Svanidhi Scheme for Women Street Vendors
  3. A Frictionless Savings Product and Service for Women by Women

The program will also feature panel discussions with eminent female entrepreneurs and FINTECH and BFSI leaders. We will hear how they have converted challenges into opportunities and what they believe the role of Technology and Innovation is in Financial Inclusion of all women across India.

Stay tuned to this space for more updates!

Illustrious Line-up of Speakers include

Mr. Rajesh Bansal, CEO, RBIH

Shri. Amarjeet Sinha, Chairperson, RBIH Gender Expert Committee, Former Advisor to the Prime Minister and former Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development

Ms. Shradha Sharma, Founder & CEO, Your Story Media

Ms. Shinjini Kumar, Co-Founder, SALT

Mr. S. Selvaraj, Chairman, Tamil Nadu Grama Bank

Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, CEO, AU Small Finance Bank

Mr. Rahul Chari, Co-founder, PhonePe

Ms. Deepthi Ravula, CEO, WE HUB Govt of Telangana

Ms. Hardika Shah, Founder & CEO, Kinara Capital

Ms. Sairee Chahal, Founder and CEO, SHEROES

Ms. Rama Devi Kanneganti, Chairperson, Atal Incubation Centre We-Hub & President ALEAP

Ms. Srivardhini K. Jha, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore; Chairperson, NSRCEL

Ms. Lathika Pai, Country Head, Microsoft – Venture Capital and PE Partnerships

Ms. Tanya Naik, Head – Online and Omnichannel Business, Pine Labs

Anand Kumar Bajaj. Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby

Bindu Ananth, Chair, Co-Founder and Managing Trustee of Dvara Holdings

Mr. Manikandan. E V, Co-Founder, Anniyam Payment Solutions Pvt Ltd

Mr. Shiva Prasad, Founder & CEO, Makspay

The Swanari program will bring together players in the ecosystem for effective deliberations. We look forward to welcoming participants from a broad spectrum:

Women Entrepreneurs

Senior and mid-level BFSI professionals

Academicians

Women Leaders

Founders of leading Fintechs

PE-VC Firms

To register for the event, click here

About RBIH

The Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) – a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) – is an organisation that enables frictionless financial services to a billion Indians. We function as a focal platform, bringing together members of financial, technological, and academic institutions, to promote and accelerate innovation across the financial sector. With a robust ecosystem that enables the exchange of ideas, research and development of prototypes, we aim to not only strengthen the Indian financial system but also keep India at the forefront of global financial innovation.