Long-held traditions of self-help gave impetus to small community-based co-operative societies that have evolved, with AKFED’s help, into small co-operative banks. These then merged to form the Development Co-operative Bank, and eventually morphed during the 1990s into what is now known as DCB Bank.

From its origins in small institutions addressing the needs of underserved communities, especially in the co-operative sector, DCB Bank in India has emerged as a fully fledged commercial bank, providing advanced corporate finance services while continuing to serve the needs of co-operative society borrowers. AKFED has also promoted private-sector initiatives and entrepreneurship through equity investment, in partnership with multilateral agencies, international investors, local development institutions and individuals. We facilitated finance for home ownership by playing an instrumental role in the launch of the Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) in the mid 1970s.

DCB Bank is usually amongst the top five banks in India in terms of offering attractive term deposit interest rates, especially for longer tenor retail deposits.It has a network of more than 340 state-of-the-art branches across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi/ NCR, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

India has high levels of rural-urban migration and a large population of young people who are not keen to work in agriculture. In response, AKF and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) are working to develop the capacities of rural youth and match them with job opportunities.

AKRSP runs Yuva Junction, a network of skills and entrepreneurship development centres in rural areas. They provide youth with information about government schemes, agriculture markets and job opportunities. Technical and life skills training includes computing, nursing and retail.

The centres are increasingly linked with employers (including retail chains, call centres and construction companies) and have placed thousands of youth in new jobs.

Women’s Economic Empowerment

AKF enhances the self-reliance and empowerment of women and girls and women’s collectives through employment and life skills training, as well as microenterprise support and access to finance. In urban areas of Patna (Bihar) and Hyderabad (Telangana) as well as in rural Uttar Pradesh, AKF has been helping adolescent girls, who have dropped out of school, access vocational skills training such as sewing and embroidery.

Building Economic Participation

AKF enables women’s and youth collectives, including tribal and marginalised groups, to access government economic support schemes through awareness-raising, documentation assistance and system navigation.