Indian formal credit market sees surge in women borrowers

Women in India demonstrate stronger borrowing behaviour than men and have fewer overdue loan EMIs or credit card payments, according to latest report by CRIF, a private credit bureau and business information systems company.

Findings of the report titled, Women’s Financial Inclusion and Independence: Trends and Insights, showed that the number of women with active loans increased to 8.3 crore last Decmber, up from 7.5 crore in December 2023. This a 10.8% year-on-year increase. Their overall share, however, remained stable at 24%.

Outstanding credit of women borrowers rose to ₹36.5 lakh crore in December 2024, up from ₹30.9 lakh crore in December 2023—an 18% growth rate, according to the CIRF report.

Women also had lower portfolio at risk (PAR), suggesting they have better borrowing behaviour. Moreover, they also repay their loans and credit card dues on time, reducing the percentage of loans classified as non-performing assets (NPA)—where payments exceed 90 days past due (DPD 91+).

The report findings also showed that women’s borrowings were led by gold loans, education loans, and home loans.

Moreover, the adoption of automatic transfer service for personal loans, gold loans, auto loans, and educational loans was higher among women borrowers than for men borrowers last year.

Women also outperformed men in keeping a lower PAR 91-180 DPD across most loan categories, except for gold loans, two-wheeler loans, and certain retail loans.

Additionally, the share of younger women borrowers (below 35 years) was the highest in loan originations. However, it declined slightly from 44.3% in CY 2022 to 43.8% in CY 2024, the findings showed.

Meanwhile, public sector banks overtook private sector banks in lending to women, increasing their share of loan originations for women borrowers from 34.7% in CY 2022 to 42.8% in CY 2024. The share of new-to-credit (NTC) originations was higher among women than men across all major loan products in CY 2024.

The report further showed loan disbursal to female borrowers in the April-December FY 2024-2025 have already surpassed the previous year’s comparable period for gold loans, property loans, consumer durable loans, and two-wheeler loans.