WEP and TransUnion CIBIL introduce SEHER to enhance financial literacy among women entrepreneurs

The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and TransUnion CIBIL have launched SEHER, a credit education programme to enhance financial literacy and business skills among women entrepreneurs. This initiative aims to provide vital support, enabling women to access the financial tools needed for business growth and job creation.

The SEHER programme is part of WEP’s (a public-private partnership platform incubated at NITI Aayog) Financing Women Collaborative (FWC), a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at accelerating access to finance for women entrepreneurs and equipping them with the knowledge to build strong credit histories and better manage their finances.

According to a TransUnion CIBIL data, there has been a significant rise in the demand for business loans by women, which has grown 3.9X in the last five years (FY19–24). During this period, the number of women borrowers holding business loans increased by 10%, with women constituting 38% of the 1.5 crore borrowers with live business loans as of March 2024. The portfolio balance for business loans held by women grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35% from March 2019 to March 2024.

Against this backdrop, the SEHER program was officially launched today by Anna Roy, Mission Director, Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and Principal Economic Adviser, NITI Aayog in the presence of Jitendra Asati, Director (Financial Inclusion), Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance; Sunil Mehta, Chief Executive, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA); Neeraj Nigam, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI); Mercy Epao, Joint Secretary, Ministry of MSME; and Rajesh Kumar, MD and CEO at TransUnion CIBIL.

“A lack of financial awareness is often cited as one of the key roadblocks for MSME development, which is a high priority segment for our country’s economic growth,” said Anna Roy, Mission Director, WEP, and Principal Economic Adviser, NITI Aayog adding that to access timely and better finance for business growth, entrepreneurs must understand all aspects of finance, including their CIBIL Rank and commercial credit report. WEP aims to empower women entrepreneurs by overcoming information asymmetry and providing support in areas like finance, market linkages, training, mentoring, and business development services.

According to Udyam Registration Portal, India is home to 63 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with women owning 20.5% of these businesses, and employing approximately 27 million people.

Furthermore, rural areas have a slightly greater share of women-owned enterprises (22.24%) compared to urban areas (18.42%).

Accelerating women’s entrepreneurship, especially in rural areas, could potentially create over 30 million new women-owned enterprises, generating 150 to 170 million jobs – with women-owned businesses contributing to employment generated by URP-registered units at 18.73%. This underscores the critical role of women entrepreneurs in the nation’s economic landscape.

With the potential economic impetus in mind, the WEP aims to enable an ecosystem for women entrepreneurs in India.

Kumar from TransUnion CIBIL added, “TransUnion CIBIL is proud to partner with the Women Entrepreneurship Platform on this unique initiative aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs across socio-economic categories, age-groups and geographic locations. Business growth is directly dependent on credit access, credit awareness and financial literacy. We aim to propagate financial knowledge and improve the skills of women entrepreneurs so that they can manage their businesses successfully to achieve sustained growth. This program will also help support India’s $5 trillion economy goal as more and more women are empowered to start and grow their businesses profitably.”