Women’s Day: Nearly 30% rise in female borrowers across major loan products in one year, shows CRIF report

The number of women borrowers across major retail loan products spiked by 29 per cent between December 21 and December 22, primarily driven by the rise in personal loans and consumer durables loans, shows a recent study by the CRIF, an RBI-approved credit bureau in India. Both in the number of active loans availed by Female Borrowers and the number of Portfolio Outstanding loans for Female Borrowers, there has been a spike of more than 25 percent within this period.

According to many experts, women are primarily taking loans to start their own businesses. In this period, while in all other loan products, there has been a spike, the number of active loans availed by female borrowers for agriculture has witnessed a fall. This indicates that women are focusing more on non-agricultural aspects.

Avishek Gupta, MD & CEO of Caspian Debt, says, "The women entrepreneurs we have worked with are innovative and versatile, and they have been seen to successfully lead impact-driven initiatives. We have higher acceptance and retention rates for women-led organizations. During FY 22 alone, 33 per cent of the loan amount disbursed by Caspian Debt went to women-led companies. We at Caspian Debt believe in enabling those who have the vision to build a better world, and women surely make a large part of it. We invest in women not only because it is the right thing to do but also because it makes the business case for us." 

In one of the recent interactions with Zee Business, several women entrepreneurs and successful working women pointed out that one of the major reasons that metropolitan areas like Delhi have witnessed a fall in the women's workforce is because jobs in such areas are mostly corporate-driven and require a certain level of education. A spike in the number of women borrowers for education loans is an indication that more women are trying to pursue better education and get into the service sector in urban areas. The number of Portfolio Outstanding education loans for Female Borrowers between 2021 and 2022 went up by 25 per cent.

Also Read: Women’s Day 2023: Delhi witnesses the highest fall in women's workforce in the post-COVID period

Experts pointed out that one major cause that drove the spike in the disbursement of loans and financial activities among women borrowers is digital inclusion. A study by PayNearby shows that more than 10,000 women entrepreneurs have dispensed over Rs 900 crores of financial services in the last financial year alone, primarily in the states of UP, Rajasthan, and MP.

"We want women to have greater control over their earnings, savings, and other critical elements. For this, we aim to enable form-factor-agnostic, simple-to-use platforms at all nearby retail stores, so that our women can take control of their futures and be active partners in the nation’s success story," said Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby, a financial service platform.