Based on a survey of 12 private-sector business correspondent network managers (BCNMs), the authors seek a supply-side perspective on the challenges and opportunities for expanding the reach of female business correspondents (BCs) in India. BCs are agents who contract with banks to offer banking services outside of bank branches. The authors find that women are underrepresented among BCs, but that “according to BCNMs, more female BC agents would improve the quality of the agent network.” One possible reason that fewer women than men are BCs is the personal lives “of female BC agents [are] more complicated than” those of their male counterparts.
The authors suggest the following responses: (1) investigate how BCNMs are and are not supportive of female BCs; (2) collect separate data on the costs of managing men and women and the revenue each group generates; and (3) train staff on how and why to be more inclusive of women in the workplace. In addition, the authors advocate using a gender-focused strategy during BC recruitment and boosting the support of new female BCs as they build their businesses to levels that are financially sustainable.
This is a summary of a paper by Akhand Tiwari, Gayatri Pandey and Sonal Jaitly; published by MicroSave Consulting; February 2022; 16 pages, available at https://www.findevgateway.org/paper/2022/02/womens-agent-network-missing-link-indias-financial-inclusion-story-supply-side
By Sheen Gupta, Research Associate
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