Sex Workers Managed Bank Makes Rs 9 Cr. Business

Kolkata, May 4 (UNI) Usha Multipurpose Cooperative Society (UMCS), a financial institution founded and run by the sex workers, achieved a new milestone of touching Rs nine crore business with some 8,500 clients across five districts of West Bengal.

The Bank set up in 1995 from active support of West Bengal State Co-operative Bank and brainchild of Durbar Mahila Sammanay Samity, an NGO, the UMCS started with a handful of customers of sex workers in Sonagachhi, the biggest red light area in Kolkata, now boasts to have disbursed loans of Rs 15 lakh so far.

It is a bank with a difference, which has taken the banking services to the doorsteps of sex workers across the state.

The Bank has seven branches, including two in Kolkata and one each at South and North 24 Parganas, Nadia, and Murshidabad.

''The NGOs, who are working with the sex workers, feel that these women hardly had the habit savings. But we have daily deposits of Rs 50,000,'' Shantanu Chatterjee, in-charge of the credit division of UMCS, said.

''We are planning to open branches in more red-light areas,'' said Amita Das, a sex worker from Bowbazar and the UMCS president.

The annual turnover of the bank, which is in the process of digitising operations, was now about Rs 9 crore.

The bank is unique in the real sense. ''Keeping in mind the target group, no identity proof is required to open an account. The initial deposit can be as low as Rs 15. The daily collection scheme is the most popular," Mr Chatterjee said.

''While conducting a survey at Sonagachhi, it was found that economic insecurity forced sex workers to entertain clients who refused to use protective materials. Most of the sex workers did not have a savings plan and were often harassed by goons,'' the NGO spokesperson, Mahasweta, said.

Gauri Das, president of the Samity, said, ''Initially, it was very difficult to attract customers. But now things have changed. The sex workers open account and take loan for their children.'' The bank has sanctioned loans of upto Rs 15 lakh, mostly to sex workers, who wanted to start businesses, but mostly to fund their children's education.

UNI