Lakhimi Baruah wins Beyond Business award for taking banking to the poor and underprivileged women in Assam

From scarcity in life to doing part-time jobs like tutoring and sewing clothes to enabling financial inclusion for women by women, Lakhimi Baruah has seen it all. The 71-year old from Jorhat in Assam founded Konoklota Mahila Urban Cooperative Bank (KMUCB) in 1998 with the vision to provide underprivileged women with self-employment opportunities, encourage thrift, and educate on financial independence.

Baruah was awarded the Beyond Business award at the ETPrime Women Leadership Awards 2021 for revolutionizing the way social initiatives are delivered and creating societal impact at scale.

It was a struggle for her right at the onset, she lost her mother at birth, and her father passed away when she was a teenager. She was raised by relatives and forced to abandon higher studies due to financial constraints. She later completed her education while working to contribute to the household income.


Speaking on the genesis of the bank, Baruah said, "I was the secretary in Jorhat's Dakshin Sarbaibandha Women Association for the economically weak women in the 80's when I learned a lot at the family counselling centre and self-help groups we launched. We had to help the women open bank accounts and faced many problems then. It often happened that they lost all their patience to open an account in a bank. I found that women were unable to communicate properly and in the process realized that to make women independent, opening a bank account is a must."

From door-to-door fundraising to convincing women, many illiterate, to open an account, Baruah toiled for over eight years to meet the prerequisite documentation and capital and fulfill her dream. The bank, named in memory of the Assamese freedom fighter Konoklota Baruah, is the state's first women cooperative bank. KMUCB launched operations in 1998 with a seed capital of Rs 8.45 lakh and 1,500 women members. Two years later, the bank received a license from the Reserve Bank of India and funding from SIDBI and the Rashtriya Women Cell. "It's been heartening to see the impact of the bank, but in the beginning, it was the lack of resources that made me determined to move ahead. The circumstances I went through were not just mine but similar for most women at that time. So since early days, I had the urge to overcome such challenges," Baruah said.

Baruah shares that she was frequently questioned on the need for a separate bank for women when there were conventional banks. She responded, "We accept deposits as low as Rs 20 from daily wage women labourers. Moreover, women come with various reasons to take a loan, for instance, educational loan for their daughters; some come to start a business like a roadside eatery or a shop, some want agricultural loans. We have also provided Rs 500 as a loan and have seen women buying an insurance policy with that amount. It is women who understand these reasons and hence the requirement for a women cooperative bank powered by women."

KMUCB has working capital of over Rs 13 crores and an impressive recovery rate of 93%; it has also reduced the dependency on informal money lending. Spread across three Assam districts, Jorhat, Sibsagar, and Golaghat, the bank has over 45,000 account holders, primarily women. Over 75% of the account holders are illiterate and from disadvantaged sections of society. The bank has plans to open a branch in all the districts of Assam. "Many self-help women groups have benefited from the bank's micro-credit and credit facilities," she added.

For the exceptional work rendered to society, KMUCB received the Nari Shakti Award from the former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, in 2016. In addition, Baruah was awarded the Padma Shri in 2021 to empower women in Assam financially.

Along with Lakhimi Baruah, the other distinguished nominees for the Beyond Business award were Dr. Rukmini Banerji, Chief Executive Officer, Pratham Education Foundation; Neerja Birla, Founder and Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust and Mpower; Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, Co-founder of EkStep, and Founder of Arghyam; and Sheetal Mehta, Executive Director, KC Mahindra Education Trust.

Lakhimi Baruah’s full-length interview is an inspiring journey of a woman who helped 45,000 women from the tribal and other marginalized communities to achieve financial independence. The interview with subtitles is available exclusively on the website of ETPrime Women Leadership Awards.