New Delhi, Mar 17 (KNN) Micro, small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) led by women face a finance gap of USD 158 billion, as per a survey by Indifi Technologies, a lending platform for MSMEs’, titled ‘Understanding what women-led MSMEs want’.

The survey reveals that there has been a substantial increase in number of women-led MSMEs in India from 2.15 lakh to 1.23 crore in the last 10 years but the lack of access to credit remains an impediment which leave them with no option but to rely on informal sources.

The study aims to understand needs and challenges of women-led businesses and enable greater inclusivity in the lending space for them to flourish and scale.

About 250 women entrepreneurs were surveyed and it has been found that securing capital remains the biggest challenge that they face in terms of running a business, followed by managing business operations and securing a credit period from vendors/suppliers.

The respondents were of the opinion that starting and scaling their business is difficult for women SMEs, with raising the requisite capital being the common denominator in each stage.

Most entrepreneurs said they still depend on on banks for their financing needs when it comes to addressing such challenges, however years of business operation, insufficient credit history, and lack of property ownership are the big hurdles when it comes to getting their loans sanctioned.

Speaking on the findings of the survey Siddharth Mahanot, Co-founder & COO, Indifi Technologies, said, “A significant volume of our loan disbursements happen to women entrepreneurs, yet we are cognizant that the credit gap to be bridged still remains large. This survey aims to decode the nuances of the unique challenges that women entrepreneurs face.”

A diverse set of entrepreneurs participated in the survey who were at different stages of their businesses.

The respondents were largely between the age bracket of 31 and 50, operating their businesses for the past 2-4 years. (KNN Bureau)