By Dr Shailja Agarwal

The ultimate barrier to women’s liberation-financial autonomy- is unravelling fast with their growing disposable incomes and participation in money matters. This process is amply aided by awareness campaigns by the government, societal changes, technology, customized schemes and the ever-growing desire of womenfolk for financial independence. Good news is that there are a number of privileges in the world of finance and investing that are available to women only which at times they may not be aware of.

Here is a ready-reckoner of some of the benefits financial world offers exclusively to women.

  1. Growing participation of women in workforce has also made them vulnerable to several health risks that are peculiar to their ilk. Many insurers have floated health insurance plans that address their typical needs. Plans are available for maternity care (Care Joy), Assaults and Burns (HDFC Ergo) and usual comprehensive covers (Bajaj Allianz, New India, Reliance & Tata AIG etc). They often come with discounts in premium or additional sum assured!
  2. The erstwhile homemaker willing to become a homeowner can benefit from additional 0.05%-0.1% rebate in interest rates on home loans offered by several banks. Paltry? Look closer. This small concession can make a decent difference in EMIs and; in turn; the total repayment. And this is not all. The eligibility for women borrowers is often simpler, stamp duties lower and repayment period longer too. The government also extends subsidy benefits under Pradhan Mantri AwasYojna when a woman is a co-owner.
  3. Did you know that there are special benefits for women even when they open the humble savings bank account? These include free cheque books, smaller minimum balance, free insurance covers, discounts in select courses and locker rentals. Check out the offerings by ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, IDBI Bank and many more.
  4. The entrepreneurial women taking a business loan also have a number of customized options. Schemes like SyndMahila Shakti (Canara Bank), Shringaar/Annapurna (SBI), Shakti (Bank of Baroda) and Cent Kalyani (Central Bank of India) and of course MUDRA. These loans have many benefits including concessional interest rates and relaxed eligibility criteria.
  5. Women love shopping, generally. Banks know this too and have come up with credit card products especially designed for the swipe-happy, bargain-hunting and savvy women looking to collect/encash maximum reward points. HDFC Solitaire, ICICI Coral, RBL Bank Shoprite and SBI SimplyClick are some of the options which appears almost bespoke.

There are several other schemes/benefits -for example; Sukanya Samridhi- that are designed to make women second-to-none in terms of financial independence and wealth creation. However, one can benefit from them only when one knows about them. So, stay inquisitive and keep looking and; grow richer.

(The author is an Associate Professor at Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad)

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