The outcome of the Tejaswini Rural Women’s Empowerment Programme represents an increase in women’s livelihoods and translates into more active spaces for women by training them to organise into self-help groups (SHG). In remote tribal areas of Gadchiroli and Gondia districts of Maharahtra in India, trained SHG women are playing the role of Micro ATMs to help people in local communities access basic financial services.
The Women Development Corporation of Maharashtra project (MAVIM) partnered with Oxigen, a micro ATM company to develop a model of entrepreneurship for Self Help Group (SHG) women, provide access to basic banking facilities to villagers in remote areas where no Banks exist. Each of these women work as a mobile ATM for their village. Fifty women from Gondia and forty from Gadchiroli have been trained by Oxigen and are operational.
The micro ATMs allow people to deposit and withdraw their cash from their bank account and recharge their phones. Villagers can use their Unique Identity Card (Aadhar) or their ATM card to withdraw cash. Currently these machines are being used to deposit cash received by farmers from selling their crops, and to transfer money to other accounts. In the current COVID-19 situation, there are more cash withdrawals than deposits. Cash is being used for healthcare, to but food and to purchase inputs for agriculture production.
Although this model was developed earlier by MAVIM, which has partnered with IFAD under the Tejaswini project, the micro ATMs are proving to be a big help in bridging the last mile. They are particularly useful in the current lockdown as transport is limited to access banks further away. Each transaction also generates commission for the SHG women, who receive a monthly commission of between INR 2000 to 2500. This initiative is enabling the village community to access cash and goods, help them buy and produce goods, as well as generating additional incomes for the 90 ‘’Women-ATMs’’.