Women account for 17% of personal loans, 13% of cards, 34% of MF AUM: Redseer

Redseer Consulting’s report Designing for Her: Unlocking Women’s Financial Adoption in India highlights a structural gap in India’s financial inclusion journey. While access to digital finance and participation in the formal financial system have expanded rapidly over the past decade, women continue to participate at significantly lower levels in higher-value financial products. The report argues that the next phase of financial inclusion must move beyond simply enabling access and focus instead on driving sustained adoption.

Despite growing participation, women remain underrepresented across key financial categories. They account for only 17 percent of personal loans, 13 percent of credit cards, 22 percent of consumer durable loans, 34 percent of mutual fund assets under management, 27 percent of new EPF subscribers, and 23 percent of new life insurance policies. This persistent gap exists even as women’s overall digital engagement rises. The report notes that women now comprise nearly half of India’s internet users, growing from 20 percent to 47 percent, and their participation in digital payments has also increased significantly. Yet product usage and depth of engagement continue to lag men.

At the same time, the report positions women as a commercially strong and high-quality growth cohort. Redseer’s analysis shows a higher share of prime and above borrowers among women, lower delinquency in the 91 to 180 days-past-due category compared to men, and faster growth in average mutual fund folio size between 2019 and 2024. In other words, the challenge is not women’s financial capability but the context and design of financial products and distribution models.

The scale of the opportunity is substantial. India has around 75 million working women who represent a large, underpenetrated BFSI segment. Unlocking this market could impact asset pools of roughly INR 2,00,000 billion in AUM, INR 67,000 billion in lending, and INR 17,000 billion in insurance, according to the report’s estimates.

A central insight of the study is that women’s financial adoption is deeply socially shaped. Community-based models such as self-help groups, informal collectives, and CSR-led initiatives play a critical role in building early awareness and comfort with financial products. However, the final decision to adopt often comes only after family validation. The survey shows that nearly four in five women rely on family members for financial advice, with peers acting as a secondary layer of validation, leading many women to delay action until household comfort is established.

The report also flags a systemic ecosystem bias that continues to hinder adoption. Financial storytelling, advisory networks, and influencer content remain overwhelmingly male-led. Around 80 percent of testimonials on major fintech platforms feature men, while insurance agents were 71 percent male in FY24. Awareness channels show similar skew, with 14 of the top 15 finance YouTubers being male. This misalignment is compounded by product-market mismatches across life stages, where women seek flexibility, clarity, and control but are frequently offered rigid, long-term, lock-in heavy financial products.