Half a billion Indians have been able to open their no-frills Jan Dhan bank account for the first time in the last nine years thanks to Bank Mitras and Bank Sakhis who teamed up with village heads to achieve this feat.

A little more than half of the 500 million no-frills Jan Dhan accounts opened in India in the past nine years belong to women. Access to banking has enabled rural women to be in charge of their own finances and their children's’ future.