NITI Aayog today launched the report titled “From Borrowers to Builders: Women’s Role in India’s Financial Growth Story”. The report launched by CEO NITI Aayog, Shri B.V.R. Subrahmanyam reveals that more women in India are seeking credit and actively monitoring their credit scores. As of December 2024, 27 million women were monitoring their credit, marking a 42% increase from the previous year, signaling growing financial awareness. The report has been published by TransUnion CIBIL, Women Entrepreneurship Platform’s (WEP) of NITI Aayog and MicroSave Consulting (MSC).

During the launch, Shri B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO of NITI Aayog, highlighted the critical role of access to finance in empowering women entrepreneurs. He stated, “the government recognizes that access to finance is a fundamental enabler for women’s entrepreneurship. The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) continues to work towards building an inclusive ecosystem that fosters financial literacy, access to credit, mentorship, and market linkages. However, ensuring equitable financial access requires a collective effort. The role of financial institutions in designing inclusive products tailored to women’s needs, along with policy initiatives that address structural barriers, will be instrumental in accelerating this momentum. To achieve this goal under the aegis of WEP, Financing Women Collaborative (FWC) has been constituted. We seek more financial sector stakeholders to join FWC and contribute to this mission.”

Anna Roy, Principal Economic Advisor, NITI Aayog and Mission Director WEP, said: “Encouraging women entrepreneurship is one way of ensuring employment opportunities for women entering the workforce in India. It also serves as a viable strategy for accelerating equitable economic growth. Promoting women’s entrepreneurship could create employment opportunities for 150 to 170 million people while driving greater participation from women in the labour force.

The report highlights that women’s share of the total self-monitoring base increased to 19.43% in December 2024, up from 17.89% in 2023. More women from non-metro regions are actively self-monitoring their credit compared to those in metro areas, with growth of 48% in non-metro regions and 30% in metro areas. In 2024, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana accounted for 49% of all self-monitoring women, with the southern region leading at 10.2 million. Northern and central states, including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, saw the highest compounded annual growth rates (CAGR) in active women borrowers over the past five years.

Since 2019, women’s share in business loan origination has increased by 14% and their share in gold loans has grown by 6%, with women accounting for 35% of business borrowers by December 2024. However, challenges such as credit aversion, poor banking experiences, barriers to credit readiness and issues with collateral and guarantors persist. With rising credit awareness and improved scores, financial institutions have the opportunity to offer gender-smart financial products tailored to women’s unique needs.

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MJPS/SR