Bengaluru, 13th October: Oliveboard, India’s largest online test preparation platform for Banking and Govt courses with over 1 million subscribers unveiled a study report that reflects a growing trend in the number of women applicants from Tier 2 cities opting for banking.
In urban cities, banking is already a sector dominated by women in various aspects. Chanda Kochchar – CEO, ICICI, Arundhati Bhattacharya – CMD, SBI, Shikha Sharma – CEO, Axis Bank and Naina Lal Kidwai – GM & Country Head of HSBC are just a few examples of the long list of senior women executives in this sector.
Highlights:
- 60% of the registered users across all courses on Oliveboard are for Banking
- Of the 60% Banking registrants – Female registrations represent 36% and male 64%
- Women registering for banking from Tier 2 & 3 cities constitute 80% of the female base
- Women registering for banking from Tier 1 cities constitute 20%
- Men registering for banking from Tier 1 cities also constitute 20%
- The percentage of women registering on the platform: 2016 vs 2017 is 29% as opposed to 36%
- Women typically opt for banking exams like IBPS PO and SBI PO exams
- The age group of women registering for banking ranges between 21 and 28
According to a KPMG and Google report in May 2017 India’s online education market is set to grow to USD 1.96 Billion and around 9.6 million users by 2021 from USD 247 million and around 1.6 million users in 2016. And specifically, the Online test preparation platforms are slotted to be the fasted growing category within online education with a compounded CAGR of 64%.
Adds Abhishek Patil, Founder and CEO, Oliveboard, “We have been observing an upward trend in the number of women registrants on our platform over the years. This is also a reflection of technology adoption by women in general from tier 2 markets. With 80% of the women subscribers in banking coming from tier 2 cities, this clearly signifies the growing popularity of banking as a profession in these cities.”
Adds Nimisha Agrawal an Oliveboard subscriber from Baroda “I think banking and finance is the foundation of an economy and we hence find the opportunities exciting and purposeful. Women generally find banking to be a conducive career as it typically provides a lot of stability and growth opportunities. With the help of online test platforms, working women can now further their growth prospects in this sector easily.”
With many women, already in top position in the industry and supported by perks such as a secured family life, attractive salary, favourable working conditions and the stability in work; this sector has become preferable over most other sectors, to women. Also, as per industry experts, hiring female employees is encouraged in the financial sector as they bring about a balance in the operations, as well as the work environment. Feminine traits show better results than their male counterparts in certain aspects of banking services and having women on board provides genuine value addition to decision-making.
