Partners: Villgro, ANDE India, USAID, Caspian Debt

Women-run micro, small and medium enterprises (WMSMEs) account for approximately only 20 percent of all MSMEs in India. WMSMEs are constrained by various challenges, principally access to finance at different stages of the business. A large body of evidence has documented the gender gap in access to finance between men and women-run enterprises.

Sharon Buteau, Executive Director, LEAD at Krea University along with other senior experts was part of a panel discussion co-hosted by ANDE India and Villgro which saw the release of a collaborative research report on the biases and barriers women entrepreneurs face when accessing debt finance in the country. Key insights explored includes:

• How do women entrepreneurs access credit?
• Can credit gaps be attributed to explicit or implicit gender biases?
• What role do decision-making processes adopted by financial institutions play in this?

Resources:

Research Report: Beyond the Numbers – Decoding the Gender Gap in Financing MSMEs in India