In the heart of Maharashtra’s drought-stricken region, one woman’s vision has transformed the financial lives of rural women and reshaped the contours of inclusion. Chetna Gala Sinha, founder and chair of Mann Deshi Foundation and founder of India’s first cooperative bank established by and for rural women, the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank, has spent decades building an ecosystem where financial access, entrepreneurship and leadership converge.
Born and educated in Mumbai, Sinha moved to the village of Mhaswad in Satara district after her marriage and became deeply aware of the economic exclusion faced by rural women. Her journey took a decisive turn in the late 1990s when one of her neighbours—who worked as a welder—was denied a savings account simply because her balance was too small and she lacked formal documentation. This incident compelled Sinha to embark on a mission: to create a banking institution that would recognise even the smallest savings and treat rural women as rightful economic actors. In 1997, the Mann Deshi Mahila Bank was established, marking a historic milestone in India’s financial inclusion narrative.
Under her leadership, the bank did more than offer savings and credit—it pioneered doorstep services, introduced products allowing savings of as little as ten rupees a day, and designed group-lending models tailored to women without collateral or conventional credit history. These innovations allowed women to become micro-entrepreneurs in fields such as dairy, tailoring, food processing and retail. Through its associated foundation initiatives the reach expanded to include business schools for rural women, digital and financial literacy programmes, a community radio station and a chamber of commerce for micro-entrepreneurs. These efforts combined banking with skill-building and community leadership, offering women not just capital but agency.
The outcomes have been profound. More than 100,000 women opened accounts in the bank’s early years and the foundation’s training programmes have supported nearly half a million rural women according to internal reports. Women who once needed to rely on informal lenders or were unable even to open a savings account are now managing their own finances, making small investments, accessing credit for their enterprises and earning respect within their families and communities. Sinha comments that when rural women are trusted with opportunity rather than charity, they make choices, take risks and lead change.
Sinha’s work stands out because she broke into a sector intensely dominated by men and created a financial institution anchored not in urban benchmarks but in rural reality. She insisted the solutions must be designed by and for the women targeted—not simply adapted from urban models. When initial attempts to secure a banking licence were rejected because many prospective members were illiterate, she organised literacy classes for them, and returned with a group of women who could confidently demonstrate their understanding of interest calculations and banking fundamentals. That determination set the tone for the bank’s ethos: solve structural barriers rather than accept them.
The impact of this work is also visible in the changing perceptions of women’s economic role in rural India. By making savings, credit and entrepreneurship accessible, Sinha and her institutions have helped cast women as economic agents rather than dependents. The ripple effect is felt in improved financial confidence, increased intra-household decision-making and more visible participation in community business networks. The bank’s model also offers lessons to mainstream financial institutions on how to design for equity and inclusion—not as add-ons but as core features.
Sinha’s vision extends beyond the bank. The foundation’s entrepreneurship programmes train women to build their own enterprises, emphasise market linkage, digital adoption and peer networks. In doing so, the initiative moves beyond access to capital into the realm of capability and choice. Furthermore, the foundation supports women-run farmer producer companies, enabling women agriculturalists to access markets and value chains once dominated by male intermediaries. This broader ecosystem orientation amplifies the impact from individual beneficiaries to entire communities.
Recognition of Sinha’s work has come at national and international levels. She has served on advisory councils for financial inclusion and women’s entrepreneurship, and her model is cited in global forums on gender-equitable banking. Yet her focus remains rooted in the village. She often emphasises that the solutions must reflect local realities—the timetable of women, the seasonality of rural enterprises, the constraints of mobility—and that financial products must be flexible, transparent and respectful of dignity.
Looking ahead, Sinha and her team continue to push the boundaries. The bank is exploring digital platforms to deepen reach, the foundation is scaling its business schools and the vision is extending to one million rural women entrepreneurs over the next few years. As she remarks, the aim is not simply to include women into existing systems but to reshape systems so that women’s agency becomes normal rather than exceptional.
In a nation where rural women have long been invisible to formal financial systems, Chetna Gala Sinha’s work illuminates a powerful alternative path. Through banking shaped by women’s reality, entrepreneurship built by women’s potential and leadership fostered in rural spaces, she is redefining empowerment—not as a lofty ideal but as lived, economic independence. Her enterprise is a testament to the idea that when women are trusted with opportunity and equipped with tools, their impact transcends individual lives and transforms communities.
