Financial assets held by rural women get converted to physical assets for a short time, only to undergo further metamorphosis as liquid assets — in the form of alcohol. This was how Mr K. R. Kamath, Chairman, Punjab National Bank, described the ferment in the rural outback of the country during a discussion on catalysing financial savings, while pointing to the oft-heard issue of rural women being exploited by their husbands.
Listening to bankers talk passionately about how the future revolved around providing multiple access channels such as Internet ATMs and mobile banking, Mr M. S. Sundararajan, former Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Bank, said that what was important was not providing the channel but making sure that it actually worked. He recounted his own experience of wanting to carry out a transaction in a “North Indian bank”, with which he had an account, but in a branch other than the branch where transact.
While the bank initially refused to entertain his request, he was able to get it done after ‘throwing his weight round and revealing his identity'. This incident prompted him to e-mail the CMD Secretariat, which he got from the bank's Web site.
He is still awaiting a reply to the mail sent on September 14, 2011, he said.