For women, it's along walk to financial inclusion

India has made great strides in financial inclusion. According to Global Findex 2021, bank account ownership in the country has grown to 78 per cent.

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Delving deeper into gender-disaggregated data, however, reveals alarming facts. Women are 13 percentage points less likely to use their accounts for digital payments. And while women tend to save more money than men, only 28 per cent use savings accounts. If a woman applies for a loan to buy a two-wheeler, she is likely to be asked to bring along a male guarantor. This is commonplace in rural settings for banks to exercise caution when extending loans to women without the presence of a guarantor or collateral. What could potentially be a channel for mobility and independence is marred by dependence on male family members.

It is no surprise that despite widespread bank account ownership, women still struggle to experience true financial freedom.

Women make up a meagre 16 per cent of management roles in financial services, according to the 2022 'Mind the Gender Gap' report by the CFA Institute. An industry that intends to serve women has so few of them in its ranks, and is missing valuable perspectives as a result. This leads to traditional sociocultural norms and personal biases seeping into policy product and process design.