First deep-sea fisherwoman Rekha Karthikeyan given Sthree Ratna award
Thrissur: Rekha Karthikeyan, the fisherwoman who hit the headlines for becoming the first female in the county to secure the licence for deep-sea fishing was presented the ‘Sthree Ratna’ award for her outstanding achievement in the area of women empowerment by ESAF co-operative, a wing of ESAF Small Finance Bank at a function held here on Saturday.
State Women's Commission Chairperson M.C. Josephine presented here the award.
The award has a cash price of '1 lakh. ESAF founder K Paul Thomas said that Chettuva-based fisher woman was presented the award in view of a function organised by the bank on the occasion of Internatoonal Women's Day and there would be more awards for achievement in women empowerment from next year.
He also said that ESAF Small Finance Bank which had completed two years had been able to give retail loans worth '5,000 crores with an NPA of 0.8 percent.
“We have deposits of '3,900 crore and have a loan-deposit ratio of 130 percent. The bank is also getting refinance from NABARD which make us possible to work on such a loan-deposit ration,” Mr Paul Thomas said.
