5k trained Sakhis for last-mile banking services in Karnataka

The state government has asked banks to onboard more than 5,000 trained ladies - Sakhis -  as business correspondents (BCs) to help bring more women, especially those benefitting from cash schemes, into the formal financial system, a top official said. 

Business correspondents are intermediaries who provide last-mile banking services, typically in rural areas where access to financial institutions is limited. 

Under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), a total of 5,007 women members of self-help groups have been trained and certified by the Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF). 

With 5,000 trained women available to provide last-mile banking services, the government sees an opportunity to target beneficiaries of the flagship Gruha Lakshmi (Rs 2,000 per month) and Shakti (free bus travel) schemes. 

Over 1.25 crore women receive the cash benefit under Gruha Lakshmi while the Shakti scheme is believed to have led to savings, thanks to fare-free travel. 

“The idea is that if there’s a trained IIBF-certified woman in a panchayat, financial inclusion of women will become easier,” Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Development Commissioner Uma Mahadevan told DH.

She pitched the idea of onboarding the IIBF-trained Sakhis at a recent meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC).

“Wherever there’s no bank branch, this is a way for women’s financial empowerment so that they’re able to do their own financial transactions without depending on male family members,” Uma explained, adding that the “level of comfort” in dealing with women business correspondents will be more.

“We want to make it easier for women to put their money, including savings, into livelihood purposes.”

Accordingly, the SLBC is working on the ‘One Gram Panchayat - One BC Sakhi’ campaign to deploy 5,000 women as BCs by September 2025, with infrastructure support from the government. The Sakhis will be given free space and basic infrastructure in gram panchayat buildings. 

Karnataka already has 93,173 active BCs. Of them, only 13,676 are IIBF-certified.

That there is an 18% inactivity among BCs “is a barrier to empowerment, especially in rural areas,” Uma said at the SLBC meeting.