65 pc Indian women entrepreneurs in metros have not taken a business loan: DBS Bank India & CRISIL

Survey says that as many as 65 pc of self-employed women living in urban Indian cities have never taken a business loan (MIG Photos/Aman Kanojiya)

DBS Bank India, part of Singapore-based financial services company DBS, says it recently conducted a survey of 400 self-employed women across 10 prominent urban cities in India, in collaboration with CRISIL, to examine their sources of business funding, banking habits, digital payment preferences, workforce dynamics, and adoption of sustainability measures within their businesses. The survey also focussed on challenges such as perceptions of gender bias while analysing how factors like age, income level and geographical location shape their decisions.

In a press statement, the bank says that as many as 65 pc of self-employed women living in urban Indian cities had never taken a business loan, among them 39 pc women rely on their personal savings to fund their business, 26 pc on loans from friends and family and 3 pc on investor funds amongst avenues.

The survey noted that among women entrepreneurs who do take loans, 28 pc prefer to their leverage personal property as collateral, while 25 pc utilise gold. In terms of banking facilities, 39 pc of these entrepreneurs rely on cash credit (CC) and overdraft (OD) options, followed by 25 pc using corporate credit cards and 11 pc opting for property-backed term loans.

It also added that a significant number of women rely on UPI services for their financial transactions with about 73 pc of them preferring digital payment methods for consumer transactions, and 87 pc relying on these digital payments for their business expenses.

The statement also revealed that a significant percentage of women entrepreneurs have been unware of government schemes launched for their aid and that 34 pc said they had never utilised any government scheme for their business.

Support beyond finances

Women entrepreneurs have highlighted the need for comprehensive support beyond financial assistance. The survey states that 26 pc women seek mentorship, 18 pc require help navigating government aid, and 15 pc need guidance on digital financial processes. Additionally, 18 pc expressed interest in women-focused communities, while 13 pc requested access to industry-specific financial data and benchmarks.

In response to these needs, DBS Bank Foundation has launched a training programme in partnership with Haqdarshak, an online platform to help create awareness of government welfare schemes, aimed at enhancing financial literacy. This initiative aims to empower women to access government aids and financial services. The programme targets 200,000 marginalised beneficiaries.

The bank has also designed a proposition for women entrepreneurs in partnership with other organisations such as Zaggle EMS to offer them exclusive deals and benefits including a tool to streamline expense management, reduction on card insurance and services charges for Zaggle’s payment.