New Delhi: The number of women seeking credit for business or personal finance in India has trebled between 2019 and 2024, with at least 60 percent of women borrowers from rural and semi-urban areas, a new report said. It highlights a positive shift in financial behaviour and, with a significant number of women actively monitoring their credit score, growing financial awareness among women.
The report, ‘From Borrowers to Builders – Women’s Role in India’s Financial Growth Story,’ by NITI Aayog and TransUnion Cibil, a credit information company, was released Monday.
“Women seeking credit grew ~3X between 2019 and 2024, reflecting increased demand among female borrowers. About 60 percent of women borrowers availing credit are from semi-urban or rural areas,” the report said.
The number of women borrowers availing retail credit in India has increased at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22 percent in that time. CAGR is a measure of an investment’s annual growth rate over a period of time.
“This growth reflects a significant shift in financial behaviour, with women increasingly leveraging credit to meet personal and professional goals,” the report said.
It also said women under 30 years of age accounted for only 27 percent of retail credit uptake by women, compared to 40 percent for men.
As of December 2024, southern states—such as Tamil Nadu (44 percent), Andhra Pradesh (41 percent), Telangana (35 percent ), and Karnataka (34 percent)—had a higher share of women borrowers as compared to the average of 31 percent for the country.
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Shift in financial awareness
The data signals a significant shift in financial awareness among women with nearly 27 million women actively monitoring their credit by the end of 2024, a striking 42 percent increase from 2023.
“This shift reflects a broader cultural and economic transformation, with women increasingly viewing credit health as an active tool for shaping their financial futures,” the report said.
Women’s share in the total self-monitoring base increased from 17.89 percent in 2023 to 19.43 percent in December 2024.
By the end of 2024, nearly 27 million women were actively monitoring their credit as compared to 2 million in 2023.
“The number of self-monitoring women from metro areas has grown by 30 percent from December 2023 to December 2024, while those from non-metro areas have grown by 48 percent during the same period,” said the report.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana were the top five states where women monitoring their credit in 2024. These five states contributed to “49 percent of the total women self-monitoring across all states”.
The report’s findings gain significance amidst reports of steady increase in the Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) from 23.3 percent in 2017-18 to 41.7 percent in 2023-24.
A recent Time Use Survey report released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) last week highlighted that women gave 10 minutes more to “employment related activities” per day in 2024 as against what they did in 2019.
Loans against gold gain popularity
Since 2019, women’s share in business loans and gold loans has also increased by 14 percent and 6 percent, respectively. The report says that gold loans have gained popularity over the past five years.
While the credit supply to women in business sectors has improved, the majority of loans availed by women continue to be against gold. 36 percent of all loans availed by women in 2024 were gold loans as compared to 19 percent in 2019.
“4 crore loans of value Rs 4.7 lakh crore accounted for 38 percent of all loans availed by women borrowers in 2024, a growth of 5.1X by volume since 2019,” the report said.
The NITI Aayog report said that nearly 42 percent (a major share) of all loans availed by women in 2024 were for personal finance needs, such as personal loans, consumer durable loans, home ownership, and vehicle loans.
In 2024, credit for financing businesses-related purposes, such as business loans, commercial vehicle and commercial equipment loans, and loans against property, witnessed about 37 lakh new loan accounts opened by women, with disbursement totalling Rs 1.9 lakh crore.
“While number of accounts opened for business purposes has grown 4.6X since 2019, these loans constitute only 3 percent of overall loans availed by women borrowers in 2024,” the report said.
While the credit supply to women in business sectors has improved, they continue to face systemic challenges.
“Access to finance remains a significant hurdle, with many women entrepreneurs struggling to secure loans due to gender biases, lack of collateral, and limited financial literacy,” the report said.
Majority of women-owned and managed businesses are concentrated in sectors such as apparel, textiles, tobacco products, beauty, and food and beverages.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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