New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) Homeownership by working women has gone up over the last 2-3 years and their number as primary loan applicants are rising, even as the overall percentage is still very low, a top Kotak Mahindra Bank official has said.
This trend will strengthen their financial independence and decision making, the official added.
Women empowerment is one of the top priorities of the bank and it has been offering a unique savings account – Kotak Silk – to cater to the specific needs of the women account holders, Shanti Ekambaram President-Consumer Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) said.
“Today working women are buying houses. We are seeing an increasing number of working women buying homes, and they can keep their husbands or father as co-applicants, as per their choice. I think this has gone up significantly over the last 2 to 3 years.
“They are the primary applicant for the loan. Overall, it is still a small percentage, but it is not just happening in metro cities, it is happening across the country,” Ekambaram said.
Working women wanting to own homes and rise in the application is a very welcome sign, she added.
Talking about Kotak Silk, the official said the bank initiated the programme in 2012.
“I think, women empowerment at work has come a long way. At organisations, diversity has become a very big theme. Silk is designed to keep women in mind. For example, she does shopping for the family – for groceries and other things as top of the list items. So, we have our whole debit card and credit card products around that, discounts, offers and other benefits,” Ekambaram said.
She said the bank’s whole theme around Silk is financial literacy, financial independence and financial empowerment of women. It is part of the bank’s ESG goals, as more and more companies are adopting diversity under the ESG (environmental, social and governance) mandate. “Lot more women are coming into the workstream and even the women who work, all of them are not very comfortable with finance. And we want to spread the message of financial literacy, which comes with financial independence. Women must understand what to do with their money, invest their money, save their money,” the official noted.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day earlier this week, the bank unveiled a specially commissioned sculpture to honour the indomitable spirit of the Atmanirbhar Indian woman.
The sculpture titled ‘Meri Udaan’ was unveiled at the corporate centre of DLF Cyber Hub, Gurugram as a symbol of a successful and independent woman, the Kotak official said, adding ONGC Chairperson Alka Mittal was the guest of honour at the event.
On the consumer loan demand scenario, she said there was a significant impact during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic last year, from April to June.
The demand returned from August onward for products such as home loans, personal loans, credit cards among others, which continued till December before seeing a dip in January because of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of coronavirus.
“Luckily it was not for many days, it caused a little bit of slowdown. I think we are again seeing good credit card spending and demand is coming back. It is actually linked to economic activity, but for the fact that there is a war ongoing…I think things were going very well, demand was coming back, the environment was very favourable, jobs were increasing, businesses were going up and then the war hit.
“I think, how long the war continues, what impact it will have on inflation, all of that will have to be seen. Right now the demand looks stable, demand for home loans continues as well as for discretionary items,” she said.
The official said if the war continues for long, the central bank (Reserve Bank of India) will have to take some action.
“Rupee is the impacted currency. Currency has its own volatility. It’s a domino kind of effect, we will have to wait and watch,” Ekambaram said. PTI KPM BAL BAL
