Report: The Power of Jan Dhan: Making Finance Work for Women in India

August 18, 2021

Women’s World Banking’s first industry report in India highlights the design of its unique ‘Jan Dhan Plus’ solution, and learnings from a subsequent pilot study that helped nurture regular savings behavior among low-income women in the country.

To understand women’s savings behaviors, Women’s World Banking worked with Bank of Baroda, an institution holding 14% of all Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts in India with approximately 31.8 million women Jan Dhan accounts (as of July 2021).

The theory of change was that women were active and committed financial savers, but were doing so in informal ways. Women do not consider using a bank for savings since they typically save “small” amounts. To test this, Women’s World Banking designed Jan Dhan Plus, a product to motivate women to adopt a behavior that emphasizes consistent savings, and to use their account to access credit, insurance, and other financial products. Download the report to learn more.

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