The Swanari™ Program
Mission
Gender-disaggregated data and insights
Gender-intentional product and process design
Demonstrate through pilot programs
Program Overview
In the past decade, India has made unprecedented progress on various fronts in financial inclusion, made possible by – RBI’s initiatives, Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Aadhaar and the spread of smartphones in both rural and urban areas. Thanks to these efforts India has officially closed the gender gap in account ownership.
However data shows that women tend to have more inactive bank accounts than men, fewer women save within their bank accounts and women entrepreneurs still face credit access gaps. RBIH’s Swanari program has been set up with the mission of enabling “Frictionless Finance for Every Woman in India”. Through its projects, this initiative aims to impact over 556 million women (aged 15 to 64 as per World Bank data) across various segments with a particular focus on self-help groups (SHGs), women-owned MSMEs and women street vendors.
Click here to read more about the Swanari program roadmap: RBIH Swanari Program Roadmap
Projects
01
Digital Innovation for SHGs
RBIH has conceptualised and designed a unique pilot program to digitalise the SHG banking journey from account opening to credit linkage disbursements, enabling rule based digital straight-through process lending for SHGs across India, in partnership with the first implementation partner Canara Bank.
02
Frictionless Savings Products for Women
To create women-centric banking services that enable frictionless micro-savings for women at their doorstep, RBIH is working on developing customised savings products in partnerships with Banks, tailored to rural women cohorts including women dairy farmers.
03
The Swanari Dialogues
The Swanari Dialogues are recurring stakeholder consultations, organised with the intent to foster creative conversations on gender-intentional financial services.
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