NITI Aayog’s new report: Women taking loans rapidly in the country, share in business loans increased by 14 per cent

New Delhi|  Women in the country are increasingly taking loans for business and other needs. The number of active women borrowers has grown at a compound rate of 22 per cent annually over the past five years in northern-central states, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. From 2019 to 2024, women’s share in business loans has increased by 14 per cent and gold loans by 6 per cent, according to the report ‘From borrowers to builders: the role of women in India’s financial growth story’ launched by NITI Aayog on Monday. By December, 2024, women’s share of total business borrowers reached 35 percent. Among them, women from small towns and rural areas accounted for 60 per cent.

Women from small towns are ahead in keeping an eye on credit scores
According to the report of NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Forum (WEP), Trans Union CIBIL and MicroSave Consulting, women are actively monitoring their credit scores. The special thing is that women of small towns are actively monitoring their own credit as compared to metro cities. The number of such women has increased by 48 per cent in small towns and 30 per cent in metro areas.

As of December, 2024, 27 million women were monitoring their credits, up 42 percent year-on-year. This is a sign of increasing financial awareness among women. In 2024, the share of women who actively monitor their credit scores increased to 49 per cent in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana.

Increasing women entrepreneurship will provide 17 crore jobs
Anna Roy, Principal Economic Advisor, NITI Aayog and Mission Director, WEP, said, encouraging women entrepreneurship is a way to ensure employment opportunities for women coming into the workforce in the country. It also serves as a viable strategy to accelerate equitable economic growth. Promoting women’s entrepreneurship could create employment opportunities for 15 to 17 crore people and increase women’s participation in the labour force.

Challenge…Collective efforts are necessary for equitable financial access
NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subramaniam said the government recognizes that access to funding is a basic need for women entrepreneurship. The Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum is working towards creating an inclusive mechanism, which promotes financial literacy, access to credit, mentoring and market linkages. However, challenges such as poor banking experience, obstacles in getting loans and problems with the guarantor remain. Collective effort is needed to ensure equitable financial access.