Kaur, Sandeep Chavan, Pallavi and Lakhiani, Riddhi
Financial inclusion of women in India: Beyond deposit access - Economic & Political Weekly - 61(25), Jun 20, 2026: p.135-146
Treating access to bank deposits as the basic benchmark, this paper, using household-level data, argues for a wider understanding and assessment of women’s financial inclusion. Deposit access has grown significantly for women, along with a welcome trend of diversification of their financial savings from deposits to other formal savings instruments in the post-pandemic period. However, women’s usage of bank deposits and other formal instruments remains much lower. In 2025, the credit-to-deposit ratio for women was only 43% as compared to 93% for men. The gender gap is wider in the well-banked regions, including urban areas, indicating that banking development in these regions has not benefited women proportionately. – Reproduced
https://www.epw.in/journal/2026/25/special-articles/financial-inclusion-women-india.html
Financial inclusion of women in India: Beyond deposit access - Economic & Political Weekly - 61(25), Jun 20, 2026: p.135-146
Treating access to bank deposits as the basic benchmark, this paper, using household-level data, argues for a wider understanding and assessment of women’s financial inclusion. Deposit access has grown significantly for women, along with a welcome trend of diversification of their financial savings from deposits to other formal savings instruments in the post-pandemic period. However, women’s usage of bank deposits and other formal instruments remains much lower. In 2025, the credit-to-deposit ratio for women was only 43% as compared to 93% for men. The gender gap is wider in the well-banked regions, including urban areas, indicating that banking development in these regions has not benefited women proportionately. – Reproduced
https://www.epw.in/journal/2026/25/special-articles/financial-inclusion-women-india.html