Institute for Money, Technology & Financial Inclusion

The gender gap in financial inclusion (knowledge and usage) shows many women are not informed to make decisions on which products and services to take up as well as how to manage their long-term finances. Development experts argue that what women truly need is education and counseling on how to maximize the minimal funds they are investing and saving. At the same time, financial education is not enough if women do not have access to saving products. Lately, economists and researchers have experimented with savings tools beyond basic banking access, such as, a secure lockbox to safe keep money.

We conducted an experiment in Bihar, eastern state of India, with 203 women who were associated with Self Help Groups (SHGs). We attempted to understand if context-specific Financial Education (FE) helps women pay attention to their savings needs. We also provided an alternate savings tool- a lock box with a key- to understand if the savings products could improve their savings capability.

Findings suggest that providing a low-cost tool such as a lock box, along with the relatable FE modules, improved the savings behavior of women. A mere placement of the concept of daily savings in the minds of women brought about a change of behavior towards their perception over their own income. At the same time, their ability to place coins and small change in a lock box with a key provided a safe space for daily unnecessary expenses to be avoided, but also promoted a dialogue within the household itself about future-oriented thinking. Interestingly, as daily savings increased, women saved more with SHGs.