Mumbai: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accompanied by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and finance minister P Chidambaram, launched the first woman bank of India Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Speaking at the occasion the Singh marked it as the first step towards economic empowerment of women.

“We have also embarked on a process of amending our laws to make them more gender-sensitive and to enable them to effectively address issues of gender discrimination. But much more needs to be done,” prime minister said.

He added that pointing out the access to finance and banking not only empowers women but also broadens the social base of development and fosters more equitable growth.

This is an area where India lags far behind, adding this he said, “Our women have minimal access to finance and financial products. We need to change this state of affairs to enable our women.”

The Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) has been launched to benefit women, especially those from the lesser privileged classes.