ESAF Bank's Dabba Savings Account Wins Cannes Lion for Financial Inclusion

New Delhi, Jun 23 (PTI) ESAF Small Finance Bank's Dabba Savings Account campaign has received global recognition and won the bronze under the Sustainable Development Goals category at Cannes Lions, its Managing Director K Paul Thomas said.

The campaign aims to promote financial inclusion, a part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the government's thrust on bringing the unbanked into the formal banking fold.

The Dabba Savings Account campaign of ESAF Small Finance Bank caters to women in economically backward areas who do not have bank accounts due to fear of banking procedures or lack of accessibility.

Empowering such women, who used to keep their loose cash among rice grains inside a rice canister in their kitchen (the dabba), is the objective of this savings product, Thomas told PTI.

As part of this initiative, the bank distributes these dabbas with an inbuilt hidden safe for free at the women's monthly community gatherings while opening micro-savings accounts for them.

"These women continued their habit of saving, but safely. They deposited their dabba savings with ESAF at similar meetings. ESAF made it easy for them to access their accounts using their fingerprints when they went to buy rice. Shopkeepers were equipped with micro-ATMs having India's unique Aadhaar biometric technology," he said.

It is the bank's unique initiative for women's emancipation and fostering financial inclusion for the greater good of the country, Thomas noted.

For the last several years, the bank has been trying to empower these underprivileged women by transferring their micro-savings from their homes to the safety of the bank, he added.

"We had launched this project in South India, but looking at the positive results and impact, we will extend it to the entire country," he said.