Women in the rural areas held more bank accounts than their counterparts in semi-urban, urban and metropolitan areas. A total of 5.25 crore accounts had been opened by rural women as of March 2011, according to the latest RBI report on “Basic Statistical Returns of Scheduled Commercial Banks in India”.

In contrast, women in semi-urban areas held 4.47 crore accounts, while metropolitan women had opened 3.98 crore accounts. Women in the urban areas held the least number of accounts, at 3.59 crore.

However, in terms of the quantum of funds deposited, rural women held only Rs 79,508.92 crore, trailing women in metropolitan (Rs 2.71 lakh crore), urban (Rs 1.54 lakh crore) and semi-urban (Rs 1.12 lakh crore) areas. This translates into average deposits of Rs 35,260 in each account.

Women from the South led the country in terms of the number of accounts they held as well as the quantum of deposits. Their holdings of Rs 1.88 lakh crore in 6.24 crore accounts was higher than their counterparts from the western region (Rs 1.54 lakh crore in 2.75 crore accounts), northern region (Rs 1.33 lakh crore in 2.75 crore accounts), central region (Rs 0.74 lakh crore in 3.06 crore accounts), eastern region (Rs 0.60 lakh crore in 2.08 crore accounts) and the North-East (Rs 9,320 crore in 40 lakh accounts). Women in Maharashtra held the most cash in bank accounts, at Rs 1.08 lakh crore, followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs 0.54 lakh crore), Karnataka (Rs 0.53 lakh crore) and Delhi (Rs 0.52 lakh crore). In terms of the number of accounts, women from Uttar Pradesh (2.1 crore accounts) set an example for the country, followed by Tamil Nadu (1.82 crore accounts), Andhra Pradesh (1.81 crore accounts) and Maharashtra (1.74 crore accounts).

Cumulatively, women across the country held a total of Rs 6.18 lakh crore in 17.3 crore bank accounts. This was less than one-third of the Rs 21.8 lakh crore held by male individuals in 55.2 crore accounts.

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