Paytm Payments Bank has introduced a new initiative named “Paytm AshaKiran” to empower women under which it will educate rural women about the financial services and create new employment opportunities across smaller towns and cities in India’s formal banking systems.

 For the first phase, the bank has partnered with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as part of its Disha project which is supported by IKEA Foundation and women-related organizations like SHEROES to mobilize self-help groups and organize workshops in smaller cities and towns across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The initiative aims to offer skill development opportunities to rural women by training and certifying them to act as banking correspondents. These women can then act as a catalyst in the nationwide rollout of Paytm’s bank offerings. The bank will continue partnering with other government bodies and other such organizations to reach more women across India.

Under the initiative, the bank aims to empower over 1 Million women within the first year of operations through entrepreneurial opportunities. In this regard, it will conduct workshops for smaller cities and towns across the above-mentioned states.

Renu Satti, MD & CEO , Paytm Payments Bank said, “As a socially responsible bank, we aim to bring uninterrupted banking and financial services access to even the remotest cities and towns in our country. To achieve this, we are introducing our first initiative towards empowering rural women – ‘Paytm AshaKiran’. With this initiative, we aim to help women to understand the financial services sector and become self-reliant, to be a part of India’s mainstream economy. This program would support and educate these women as they take their first steps towards financial inclusion.”

 The initiative comes on the back of Paytm Payments Bank’s efforts to bring financial services to 500 million un-served or underserved consumers across India. Last year, the bank had launched  'Paytm Ka ATM’ outlets across India that allows customers to open saving accounts and deposit/withdraw money with the idea of offering banking services to smaller cities and towns.