Women at their job at Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahayog Samiti Ltd. on Thursday. Picture by Amit Kumar

Seven years ago, Meena Devi used to go from door-to-door selling garlands to support her family. Now, the resident of Kurpat village in Sabour block regularly supplies her wares to the Basukinath temple at Dumka in Jharkhand.

The fortunes of Meena and others like her did not change overnight. It was a result of their hard work, assisted by a co-operative bank for women only.

The Union government may have envisaged a bank exclusively for women for the next financial year but Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahayog Samiti Ltd — a co-operative bank for women — has been helping out entrepreneurs since 1996. It was established by Srijan Co-operative Society and is recognised by Central Co-operative Bank, Bhagalpur.

Founder of the bank, Manorama Devi, known popularly as Didi (elder sister), lost her husband in 1991. With three children to bring up, she began selling ladies’ garments as a door-to-door salesperson.

In 1994, Manorama got together a few other women like her and started a self-help group from a single room at Sabour. “We needed financial support to sustain our business but the local banks were unwilling to help us. Finally, Primary Agriculture Co-operative Society, Rajandipur, gave us a loan of Rs 10,000. This gave me the idea to start a bank for women entrepreneurs”

Such an enterprise is not unique to Bhagalpur though. In Ahmedabad, Shri Mahila SEWA Sahakari Bank Ltd., has been helping out women entrepreneurs since 1974.

Its Bhagalpur counterpart is a success story in its own right. The bank started with Rs 10,000 and 100 account holders. Now, it has a capital of more than Rs 8 crore and 5,000 account holders. It is also seeking a licence from Reserve Bank of India.