Bank of Baroda Partners with Reserve Bank Innovation Hub to Boost Financial Inclusion of Women Using Technology

Bank of Baroda, one of India’s leading public sector banks, announced today that it is partnering the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India, to promote financial inclusion of women in India. RBIH has launched a programme on Gender & Finance named "Swanari" that seeks to combine technology with a greater focus on women to help women achieve financial security and independence. To that end, RBIH is launching the inaugural edition of Swanari TechSprint, which Bank of Baroda is supporting as a scale-up partner, to create digital solutions to close the gender gap.

TechSprints are problem-solving sessions that promote innovation and collaboration to create technology-driven solutions to complex problems. The core objective of the Swanari TechSprint is to improve financial inclusion of women in India using technology and will serve as a platform to encourage women-led start-ups and women in tech to create and produce smart, creative and sustainable solutions for underserved women from low and middle income backgrounds and women-owned enterprises in India. The Swanari TechSprint will be held from April 18 to April 22, 2022.

Shri Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda said, “Using technology to provide solutions to the country’s critical problems is a powerful idea. Bank of Baroda is proud to extend support to RBIH’s Swanari TechSprint initiative to help bridge the gender divide in India. A collaborative approach, centered on innovation will ensure the best outcomes for women, accelerating financial inclusion and boosting the economic empowerment of women in the country.”

The Swanari (स्व-नारी) TechSprint will bring together fintechs, financial service providers, innovators and subject matter experts to collaborate, ideate and find solutions to specific problems and code prototype solutions in real-time.

There are seven problem statements that have been identified and two event tracks are available for participation. One track will focus on creating a minimum viable product (MVP) with enough usable features to be tested by and validated by users. The second track will focus on solving problems and designing prototypes in collaboration with others. Registrations are open at www.swanaritechsprint.in.