Save Smart. Women can bank on special offers

Balancing home and work — with dexterity and panache — is something most women have to quickly learn to do.

As a tribute to women’s work and worth, and with an eye on Women’s Day that’s just round the corner, here’s putting on the table some ideas for growing her wealth. Take a look at some savings bank accounts that have been specially crafted for women and which come with special privileges attached.

Banks such as ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, and HDFC Bank have a dedicated women’s savings account. Taking the life-cycle requirement of a a women into account, they offer customised insurance plans and healthcare benefits for them.

What are the prerequisites for opening this account?

The woman should be the primary account holder. Also, the account requires a minimum balance that is generally higher for urban branches compared to semi-urban/rural ones.

Most banks require a minimum balance of ₹10,000 for the former and and ₹5,000 for the latter. However, banks do not offer a differential rate that will place a woman’s account at an advantage compared to regular savings accounts.

There are a slew of other benefits, though, that are on offer for women’s savings accounts compared to the regular savings account.

ICICI Bank is offering an attractive three-in-one insurance cover — life, health and accidental death — that can be operated along with the savings account. The package is linked to age. Besides, the bank also offers a range of products at steep discounts — about 60 per cent on a preventive health package from Thyrocare; 25 per cent on spa services of Tattva (a spa chain); 15-25 per cent at Apollo Hospitals and Apollo Clinic respectively, using the ICICI Bank debit card.

Also, there is a plan to maintain a zero balance savings bank account when it is linked to an active recurring deposit account. Other benefits include a 30 per cent discount on first-year locker rental, a preferential rate on home loans and unlimited free cash withdrawal from any ATM.

Apart from this, the account holder can get discounts and cash-back offers when purchases are made through the debit card — from selected brands and service providers — for shopping, dining, entertainment products, baby care products, healthcareproducts, home services and kids’ education.

Similarly, HDFC Bank also has a range of incentives lined up. It offers an accidental death cover of ₹10 lakh and hospitalisation cover of ₹1 lakh. Also, you can claim ₹1,000 a day for a maximum of 10 days a year in case of hospitalisation due to accident.

With this account, you can get 50 per cent off for opening a second trading account for any member of your family (spouse, child, parents and siblings). Also, there’s a cash back offer of ₹1 for every ₹200 purchase using the debit card, and a daily cash withdrawal limit of ₹25,000.

Unlike the women’s savings account, a regular savings account of ICICI Bank or HDFC Bank is devoid of all these benefits. For example, a regular savings account holder in ICICI Bank gets lower payback reward points on debit card usage and a accident insurance of about ₹50,000.

While IDBI Bank, Axis Bank and YES Bank, do offer women’s savings accounts, the benefits are relatively less compared to ICICI Bank or HDFC Bank.

Among the smaller banks, Karur Vysya Bank has exclusive offers for women — free accidental death cover of up to ₹1 lakh, free demand draft up to ₹1 lakh a month, a 0.5 per cent discount on purchase of gold coin or bar above 50 gm and a 25 per cent concession on processing charges for retail loan products.

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