Today, on March 3, 2025, NITI Aayog launched the report “From Borrowers to Builders: Women’s Role in India’s Financial Growth Story,” highlighting a surge in women’s financial participation. The report reveals a significant 42% increase in women monitoring their credit, reaching 27 million as of December 2024. This shift signals growing financial awareness and empowerment among women in India. The report was published in collaboration with TransUnion CIBIL, the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), and MicroSave Consulting (MSC).
According to the report, the proportion of women actively tracking their credit scores has grown from 17.89% in 2023 to 19.43% in 2024. Notably, non-metro regions have outpaced metros in this trend, with a 48% rise compared to 30% in urban centers.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana collectively account for nearly half of all self-monitoring women, while Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh have shown the highest growth in active women borrowers over the last five years.
Women’s engagement in business loans has also seen a notable rise, with their share in loan origination increasing by 14% since 2019, and their participation in gold loans growing by 6%. By December 2024, women constituted 35% of business borrowers.
At the report launch, NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam highlighted the crucial role of financial access in fostering women’s entrepreneurship. He highlighted the government’s commitment to building an inclusive ecosystem through the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), which focuses on financial literacy, credit access, mentorship, and market linkages. He also called for increased collaboration from financial institutions to support the newly established Financing Women Collaborative (FWC) under WEP.
Anna Roy, Principal Economic Advisor at NITI Aayog and Mission Director of WEP, stressed that encouraging women’s entrepreneurship is essential for job creation and economic growth. She noted that promoting women-led businesses could generate employment opportunities for 150 to 170 million people, significantly enhancing female labor force participation.
The report also acknowledges persistent challenges, including credit aversion, poor banking experiences, and barriers related to collateral and guarantors. Addressing these issues, financial institutions have the opportunity to design gender-smart financial products that cater specifically to women’s needs.
