Track 02 · Growth

Saving & growing

Making money work: interest, insurance and the government schemes most women never claim.

5 modules · 4 hoursIntermediateFree · Hindi, Marathi & English

Who it's for

Women who already have an account and save something every month, and older girls preparing to earn.

By the end you can

✳Explain compound interest to someone else
✳Start a ₹500 SIP or fixed deposit with confidence
✳Name the insurance cover a household must have
✳Check eligibility for at least three government schemes
✳Identify a scam within the first three sentences of a call

The full course

Every module below is the real content our volunteers teach — read it, print it, or run it yourself.

Module 0145 min

Compound interest, explained with rice grains

Feel — not just calculate — what time does to money.

Simple vs compound

Simple interest pays only on what you put in. Compound interest pays on your money and on the interest it has already earned. ₹10,000 at 7% simple is ₹17,000 after ten years. Compounded, it is ₹19,672 — and after twenty-five years the gap is larger than the original deposit.

The rice-grain doubling

One grain on the first square of a chessboard, doubling each square. By square 21 the room is out of rice. Nothing changed except time. Money behaves the same way — which is why a woman who starts at 25 with ₹500 a month finishes ahead of one who starts at 40 with ₹2,000.

The rule of 72

Divide 72 by the interest rate to find how many years money takes to double. At 6%, twelve years. At 12%, six. Use the same rule on debt: a loan at 36% doubles what you owe in two years.

In-room activity

Two participants: one saves ₹500/month for 10 years then stops; the other starts 10 years later and saves ₹1,000/month for 20 years. The group computes both. The early saver usually wins on less money.

Takeaway

Time does more work than amount. Start small, start now.

Module 0250 min

Fixed deposits, SIPs and mutual funds

Choose between guaranteed and market-linked savings for a specific goal.

Guaranteed: FD and RD

You know the exact maturity amount on day one. Best for money needed within one to three years — school fees, a sewing machine, a wedding contribution.

Market-linked: SIP into a mutual fund

A SIP invests a fixed amount monthly, so you buy more units when prices fall. Returns are not guaranteed and can be negative in a bad year, but over 7+ years diversified equity funds have historically beaten inflation. Minimum is ₹500 in most funds, and it can be stopped any month without penalty.

Matching money to time

·Needed within a year → savings account or RD
·1–3 years → FD or RD
·3–7 years → mix of RD and a balanced fund
·7+ years (a daughter's education, old age) → SIP, PPF or Sukanya Samriddhi

Three warnings

Nobody can guarantee a return above about 8%. Any 'double your money in six months' offer is a fraud. And an agent who refuses to show you the scheme document in writing is selling their commission, not your goal.

In-room activity

Goal cards (₹15,000 school fee in 8 months; ₹1,00,000 for a daughter's college in 12 years) are matched to product cards by teams, who then defend their choice.

Takeaway

Short goals need certainty. Long goals need growth. Never swap the two.

Module 0345 min

Insurance: health, life and crop cover

Protect years of savings from one bad week.

Why it matters more than returns

One hospital admission can erase five years of saving and push a household into debt. Insurance is not an investment; it is a wall around the savings you already have.

The three low-cost covers

·PMJJBY — ₹2 lakh life cover for about ₹436 a year, ages 18–50, auto-debited from your bank account.
·PMSBY — ₹2 lakh accident cover for ₹20 a year. Twenty rupees.
·Ayushman Bharat (PM-JAY) — up to ₹5 lakh a year of hospital treatment for eligible families, cashless at empanelled hospitals.

Never mix insurance with investment

Endowment and money-back policies sold as 'savings with insurance' usually return 4–5% and lock money for 15 years. Buy protection separately, invest separately, and always name a nominee.

In-room activity

Shock scenario: a family with ₹40,000 saved faces a ₹90,000 hospital bill. The group works out the outcome with and without PM-JAY, including the interest on the loan they would otherwise need.

Takeaway

₹20 a year is not a cost. It is the cheapest thing you will ever buy.

Module 0450 min

Government schemes you already qualify for

Turn eligibility into a submitted application.

Five schemes for women and girls

·PMJDY — zero-balance account, RuPay card, accident cover, overdraft facility.
·Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana — for a girl under 10; among the highest guaranteed rates available, tax-free.
·PM Matru Vandana Yojana — cash support across pregnancy and after the first live birth.
·Mudra (Shishu/Kishore) — collateral-free business loans from ₹50,000 upward for micro-enterprises.
·Ujjwala — subsidised LPG connection for BPL households.

Where applications actually fail

Not eligibility — paperwork. Name spelled differently on Aadhaar and bank records, unlinked mobile number, no bank passbook copy, or an incomplete self-declaration. Fix the documents once and multiple applications become easy.

Using AapkaScheme

Our AI assistant asks a few plain questions — age, state, income, children, work — and returns the schemes you qualify for with the document list for each. It has already helped women complete and receive approvals on real applications.

In-room activity

Document audit: each participant lists what she has and what is missing, then fills one real application form with a volunteer checking it line by line.

Takeaway

Most women are not ineligible. They are un-applied.

Module 0550 min

Spotting scams, UPI fraud and loan traps

Recognise and end a fraud attempt without hesitation.

The three unbreakable rules

·No OTP to anyone, ever — not to a 'bank officer', not to a 'delivery boy'.
·You never enter a PIN to receive money. Only to send it.
·Nobody legitimate demands a decision in the next two minutes.

Common scripts

·'Your KYC will expire today, click this link.'
·'You have won a lottery — pay ₹2,000 processing fee.'
·'Wrong transfer, please scan this QR to return the money.' Scanning sends money out.
·Instant loan apps demanding contact and gallery access, then charging 30% upfront and threatening relatives.

If money is already gone

Call the bank and block the account immediately, report on cybercrime.gov.in or the 1930 helpline within the first 24 hours — the window in which funds can still be frozen — and keep every screenshot and reference number.

In-room activity

Live role-play: a volunteer calls participants with a real scam script. The group practises the exit sentence — 'I do not share OTPs. I will visit the branch myself.' — and hangs up.

Takeaway

Urgency is the tell. Slow down and the scam dies.

Continue learning

The other two tracks are open too — no sign-up, no cost.

Money basics →Build a business →