Director-general of police PK Thakur (lighting the lamp) and Axis Bank group executive and retail banking head Rajiv Anand inaugurate Axis Bank's first all-woman branch at Pataliputra Colony in Patna. Anand said: 'We are delighted to open our first all-woman branch. Women play an important role in managing household savings and we believe that this branch will help increase the participation of this segment in the banking industry.' Anyone, male or female, can open accounts at the branch but all-woman staff would manage it so that women customers can easily and freely transact, Anand said. This would be the 60th branch of the bank in the state. The ATM was also opened with the Pataliputra branch. This would be the 281st ATM of the bank in the state. Axis Bank, which is the third largest private sector bank, plans to open six more branches during the current fiscal in the state. With its 2505 domestic branches and 13146 ATMs across the country, as on September 30, 2014, the bank's network spreads across 1686 cities and towns, including Bihar's 33 districts. Text by Anand Raj, picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey