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NEWS ALERTS | Women entrepreneurs face constraints in accessing finance
Women entrepreneurs face constraints in accessing finance

Women entrepreneurs face constraints in accessing finance

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published Published on Mar 24, 2014   modified Modified on May 23, 2016

A new report entitled Improving Access to Finance for Women-owned Businesses in India (2014), jointly produced by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Government of Japan, underlines the importance of lending to women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)* in India (see the link below). It discusses the problem of accessing finance faced by women entrepreneurs despite them having stronger repayment track records vis-à-vis men (non-performing loans are 30 to 50 percent lower in women-owned businesses).

 
The report says that due to the difficulties in accessing finance, nearly 92.1 percent of funding for women-owned MSMEs in India is met from self, family, friends or informal sources while only 3.1 percent is met from formal financial sources. The rest 4.8 percent of funding is met from semi-formal financial sources. Only 27 percent of total demand for finance by such enterprises is fulfilled by the formal institutions. There are both supply and demand side constraints in accessing finance that are responsible for this hapless situation faced by female entrepreneurs.

The report states that although the total financial requirement of women-owned MSMEs in 2012 was around Rs. 8.68 trillion ($158 billion), the total supply of formal finance to them was around Rs. 2.31 trillion ($42 billion). This has resulted in a finance gap of Rs. 6.37 trillion ($116 billion) i.e. 73 percent of total demand. Nearly, 74 percent of demand for funding i.e. nearly Rs. 6.42 trillion ($116 billion) originated from women-owned small enterprises. Micro enterprises with a requirement of Rs. 2.05 trillion ($37 billion), accounted for 24 percent of total financial requirement.

Formal financial institutions have failed to tap women entrepreneurs who are predominantly in the services sector, and not in manufacturing-based enterprises. Such institutions have made little effort in catering to the need of women-owned MSMEs, almost 90 percent of which are in the informal sector. The major supply side constraints faced by women entrepreneurs to access finance are: a. Perception of higher risk profile in the absence of collateral security and guarantee/support by male family member; b. No real attempt to tailor products/services to suit the needs of the woman entrepreneur; c. Perception that bank branches are unwelcoming to women customers; d. High transaction costs given the small size of women-owned MSME firms; and e. Lack of reliable information about financial management makes the female entrepreneurs less attractive to financiers.

The major demand side constraints to access finance for women entrepreneurs are: a. Limited financial awareness and understanding of financial products/ services; b. Lack of adequate collateral; c. Lack of confidence or hesitation to approach financial institutions; and d. Need for support from male family members.

A breakdown of types of institutions financing women-owned MSMEs is given in the table 1 below:

Table 1: Supply of finance to women-owned MSMEs by different institutions
Table 1

Source: Improving Access to Finance for Women-owned Businesses in India (2014)

The key recommendations of the report for formal financial institutions are:
•    Customized offerings for women entrepreneurs require deep understanding of the market
•    Build a “brand” and develop tailored products and services to meet financial needs of women entrepreneurs
•    Customize policies, processes and systems to align to women entrepreneurs’ needs
•    Promote a friendlier environment for women customers
•    Deliver non-financial services

The key recommendations for enabling environment are:
•    Co-create a risk capital fund
•    Equal rights to property
•    Simplify collateral requirement
•    Formulate women-focused policies to promote women-owned enterprises
•    Co-create an online customer care support
•    Role of development finance institutions (DFIs)

* Note: The segmentation into micro, small, and medium is based on investment in plant and machinery (in case of manufacturing) or in equipment (in case of services). This is detailed below:

Definition of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) based on investment
Table 2

Source: Improving Access to Finance for Women-owned Businesses in India (2014)

References:

Improving Access to Finance for Women-owned Businesses in India (2014), IFC and Government of Japan (please click here to download)

Annual Reports-Ministry of MSMEs
http://msme.gov.in/Web/Portal/AnnualReport-Msme.aspx
 


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