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Women in India are no longer just accessing small loans -- they are now actively shaping the country’s credit market by moving into retail and business lending, NITI Aayog CEO Nidhi Chhibber said. 

A new report released by NITI Aayog highlighted a major shift in how women engage with the formal credit system.

Titled “From Borrowers to Builders: Women and India’s Evolving Credit Market”, the report showed that women are increasingly benefiting from the expansion of digital public infrastructure and formal financial systems.

Speaking at the launch, Chhibber said that economic growth improves when more people participate efficiently in markets.

“Economic development advances when participation in markets becomes broader, deeper and more efficient,” she said.

She added that the findings of this report reflect how women are increasingly shaping and benefitting from these shifts.

“Importantly, women borrowers are moving beyond entry-level credit towards retail and business-purpose lending, indicating strengthening financial capability and deeper economic integration,” Chhibber explained.

The report revealed that women borrowers in India currently hold a credit portfolio of Rs 76 lakh crore, accounting for 26 per cent of the total system credit.

This marks a sharp rise from Rs 16 lakh crore in 2017, with overall credit exposure growing 4.8 times during this period.

The number of women actively using credit has also grown steadily, with a compound annual growth rate of 9 per cent between 2017 and 2025.

Prepared under the Women Entrepreneurship Platform of NITI Aayog in collaboration with TransUnion CIBIL and MicroSave Consulting, the report provided a detailed look at how women are progressing within the credit ecosystem.

It combines large-scale credit bureau data with insights from rural women entrepreneurs.

Anna Roy, who also leads the Women Entrepreneurship Platform, said the increasing scale and diversity of women’s credit use signal a meaningful transformation in India’s economy.