Women accessing credit to run biz jumps 42 pc: NITI Aayog

New Delhi : At least 27 million women in India are seeking credit for running business enterprises and actively monitoring their credit scores, a report showed on Monday, which signifies a massive year-on-year surge.

As of December 2024, 27 million women were monitoring their credit, marking a 42 per cent increase from the previous year, signalling growing financial awareness and empowerment, according to the report launched by NITI Aayog.

The report highlighted that women’s share of the total self-monitoring base increased to 19.43 per cent in December 2024, from 17.89 per cent in 2023.

The number of women from non-metro regions actively self-monitoring their credit has shot up by 48 per cent, while in the case of metro areas, it has risen by 30 per cent.

In 2024, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana accounted for 49 per cent of all self-monitoring women, while the southern region leads with the total number going up to 10.2 million women.

Northern and central states, including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, saw the highest compounded annual growth rates (CAGR) in active women borrowers over the past five years, according to the report.

Since 2019, women’s share in business loan origination has increased by 14 per cent and their share in gold loans has grown by 6 per cent, with women accounting for 35 per cent of business borrowers by December 2024.

The report has been published by TransUnion CIBIL, Women Entrepreneurship Platform’s (WEP) of NITI Aayog and MicroSave Consulting (MSC).