Lending to women-owned micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as a distinct segment is still unexplored whencompared to lending to MSMEs in India. Due to a lack of segmental focus and, perhaps, due to a higher perception of risk, formal financial institutions have made little effort to better understand this segment. There is a lack of awareness among bankers of the potential business opportunity presented by this segment. One reason for this is the lack of data that would help present a business case to target this emerging sector. In cases where formal institutions have created women-MSME targeted credit schemes, lack of awareness and limited outreach (especially in rural areas) has meant that the impact is limited.

IFC’s work in this area aims to (a) build awareness about opportunities in access to finance for women-owned businesses; (b) demonstrate commercial viability of offering financial services to this sub-segment; and (c) strengthen capacity of the financial sector to offer targeted financial services to women entrepreneurs.