NITI Aayog released second edition of its report “From Borrowers to Builders: Women and India’s Evolving Credit Market”. The report noted that women’s credit exposure has expanded 4.8 times since 2017 (Rs 16 lakh crore), indicating a shift from access-led inclusion to progression-led participation in the formal credit ecosystem. The report prepared under the aegis of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) was prepared by TransUnion CIBIL and MicroSave Consulting (MSC).
With nearly 45 crore credit-eligible women in India, the potential for further expansion remains significant, it noted.
The report pointed out that between December 2017 and December 2025, the number of credit-active women borrowers registered a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9 per cent, while credit penetration among women increased from 19 per cent to 36 per cent.
The growth has been driven particularly by commercial credit, with credit to women business borrowers registering a CAGR of 31 per cent between 2022 and 2025, compared to 17 per cent for overall commercial credit, it said.
The report also highlighted a gradual transition of microfinance borrowers towards individual retail and commercial loans, with 19 per cent of active Microfinance Institution (MFI) borrowers now holding such loans.
The geographical spread of women’s credit access is expanding, with northern states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh showing increased growth alongside southern and western states. Personal and gold loans continue to be the most widely accessed products, while housing loans are witnessing encouraging growth, indicating rising asset ownership among women, it added.
Rapid digitization across identity, payments, underwriting and loan servicing have the potential to reduce entry barriers and enable women’s transition from informal borrowing to formal, structured financial systems, the report highlighted.
The report is based on longitudinal credit bureau data of approximately 16 crore (160 million) credit-active women, complemented by primary research with 161 rural women nano-entrepreneurs, providing both quantitative and behavioural insights. This year, the report also incorporates microfinance data, making it a comprehensive assessment of women’s access and progression within the credit ecosystem.
The report builds on a collaboration initiated by WEP in 2025 under its Financing Women Collaborative (FWC) to address gaps in the availability of sex-disaggregated data on women’s access to formal credit, including trends, borrower behaviour and progression within the credit ecosystem.
