Women-run micro, small and medium enterprises (WMSMEs) account for approximately only 20% of all MSMEs in India. But they are constrained by various challenges, mainly access to finance at different stages of the business.

The objective of this study is to investigate the gender credit gap in women-led micro, small, and medium enterprises (WMSMEs) within the Indian business landscape and analyze if they can be attributed to explicit or implicit gender biases and discrimination. It also suggests programmatic, process and product-level recommendations for financial institutions and other ecosystem players to improve credit uptake among women-run enterprises in India.

The study was conducted with support from Villgro Innovations Foundation, USAID, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and LEAD at Krea University.