RBL Bank trains low-income women entrepreneurs, gives them order to make 70k face masks

Private lender RBL Bank on Sunday said it has repurposed one of its CSR programmes to train aspiring low-income women entrepreneurs from Maharashtra and West Bengal to manufacture 70,000 face masks.

The order will provide them a meaningful work and much needed economic support to their families during Covid-19 crisis.

Among other initiatives being undertaken as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the bank provided food relief to 1,500 underprivileged families in Mumbai, medical devices to an hospital, laptops and tablets to school children of low income families for e-learning, besides supporting migrant labourers, the bank said.

"During this Covid-19 pandemic, we have repurposed our CSR programmes to meet the current needs, be in education area, sustainable livelihood or women empowerment," RBL Bank Human Resources, CSR and Internal Branding Head Shanta Vallury Gandhi told PTI in an interview.

For instance, the bank enabled repurposing of a CSR programme managed by the NGO Natarajan Education Society (NES) in Pune (Maharashtra), that gave astounding results, she said.

NES trains women on tailoring and fashion designing to help them set up small business and self-help groups. But the bank gave an opportunity to these women to manufacture three ply cloth masks for distribution to front-line workers, business correspondents and branch staff and customers.

"In a short duration of over two months, these women beneficiaries manufactured 60,000 masks distributed across the four zones in India," Gandhi said.

The women beneficiaries and NES in a short duration transited from classroom training to completely virtual environment in order to learn making high quality masks.

Similarly in West Bengal, women Self Help Group (SHG) called Anandadhara manufactured 10,000 masks which were distributed locally in the east and north eastern states.

The bank has partnered with the West Bengal State Rural Livelihood Mission (WBSRLM) managed women SHG Anandadhara.

"These activities hugely helped the women beneficiaries gain meaningful work and provided the much needed economic support that helped hike their overall family's income, especially during the lockdown phase of Covid-19," Gandhi said.

Sharing about its initiative to support migrant workers, the RBL Bank official said it already had partnership with an NGO Aajeevika Bureau (AB) which was working closely with migrant communities in South Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

But the support efforts were strengthened when a sudden lockdown was announced in March-end to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease, the official added.

Gandhi said employees contributed towards the cause by donating a portion from their salaries, especially during the lockdown period.

"All the funds were diverted towards Aajeevika Bureau's work in running an emergency helpline (Labor Line 1800 1800 999), provision of direct food relief to workers in distress and providing support to returning migrants back in the villages," she noted.

That apart, the bank has collaborated with PE firm Norwest Venture Partners for 'Campaign Gratitude' initiative and contributed Rs 50 lakh to two NGOs AB and Concern India Foundation Trust to help communities impacted by the pandemic.

Through Concern India Foundation Trust, RBL Bank has provided food relief to over 1,500 underprivileged families in Mumbai. It has also donated 100mA mobile, X-ray HF 3.5kw machine to the Khan Bhabha Hospital, Kurla which is one of the most severely impacted areas in Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

With Aajeevika Bureau Trust, the Bank said it aims to provide free legal aid, skills training and helpline services to migrant workers in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

"As migrant workers are often caught in a chain of contractors and middlemen, the free legal aid would help them navigate this adverse situation," Gandhi said, adding that the trust is also conducting skill development sessions to help migrant returnees build new employable skills.

In the education area, the RBL Bank has enabled education on virtual medium for Udbhav RBL School students during the Covid-19 situation. It also plans to hold its annual flagship event 'UMEED1000 Cyclothon' to create awareness about girl education virtually this year.