A NITI Aayog report released on Monday highlighted that more women in India are seeking credit, and actively monitoring their credit scores. The report stated that 27 million women were “monitoring” their credit, marking a 42 per cent year-over-year surge in women borrowers, which indicated a rise in financial awareness.
Published by TransUnion CIBIL, Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) of NITI Aayog and MicroSave Consulting (MSC), the report revealed that more women from non-metro regions are actively self-monitoring their credit compared to those in metro areas.
In non-metro regions, the growth is 48 per cent, while its 30 per cent in metro areas.
Accordingly, women’s share of the total self-monitoring base rose to 19.43 per cent in December 2024, up from 17.89 per cent in 2023, the report stated.
Since 2019, women’s share in business loan origination has risen by 14 per cent and their share in gold loans has grown by 6 per cent, with women accounting for 35 per cent of business borrowers by December 2024, the Niti Aayog’s report stated.
Challenges such as credit aversion, poor banking experiences, barriers to credit readiness and issues with collateral and guarantors persist.
BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of NITI Aayog, who unveiled the report, stressed the critical role of access to finance in empowering women entrepreneurs. “The government recognises 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,” he stated.
Subrahmanyam, however, advocated that 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, Subrahmanyam flagged.
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,” he remarked.
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.”
In 2024, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana accounted for 49 per cent of all self-monitoring women, with the southern region leading at 10.2 million. N
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.