Affordable Credit Remains Out of Reach for Many Rural Women in India Despite New Financing Tools

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 2 September 2025

• Most women in rural India continue to lack access to cheap credit even as more of them begin small businesses
• The Women's Livelihood Bond serves to bring funds from global investors to microfinance institutions that serve local borrowers

In August 2025, women in rural India still have limited access to cheap credit despite growing engagement with small business activities.

Mechanisms like the Women's Livelihood Bond are utilized to route capital from foreign investors to microfinance institutions that lend to grassroots borrowers.

This month, SAVE Microfinance, a member of the Bihar-based SAVE Group, said it had raised USD 3 million through the seventh issuance of the bond. Singapore-listed, the bond is being taken up more and more by Asian microfinance lenders to tap global investment.

For SAVE, the money will increase its loan portfolio and diversify away from a handful of local lenders. Serving rural northern and eastern India, the firm characterized the initiative as part of its commitment to delivering sustained financial access for women who are routinely excluded from mainstream banking.

Managing Director Ajeet Kumar Singh and Chief Financial Officer Pintu Kumar Singh stated that the capital will assist women who are running small ventures like sewing units, food stalls, and small shops, and help develop financial systems at the village level.

Industry watchers comment that this is a step-by-step evolution in microfinance financing, where lenders are shifting away from reliance on Indian banks and embracing blended finance structures to access more stable and diversified sources of capital. This is important in a sector where continuity of credit lines has a direct impact on outreach.

The Women's Livelihood Bond programme, facilitated by Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), has already directed significant funding to lenders in Asia.

SAVE's entry into the seventh issuance also further bridges global capital markets with Indian rural entrepreneurs.

For female borrowers, the effect should be tangible—more secure access to loans, potential to build up small businesses, and less reliance on shadow loans.

For SAVE, the program is less about exposure and more about putting its clients in a position to provide the finances they require to keep and grow their businesses.