Women Are Way Behind Men While Availing a Loan: CRIF High Mark

Moneylife Digital Team 06 March 2020

Women are known to be cautious by nature and so it is no wonder that they are well behind men while obtaining a loan from a lender. Indian women are availing credit more for home loan (29%) as compared with personal and auto loans (both at 15%), while the balance debt is obtained by men, shows data from CRIF High Mark.

According to data from the credit information company, the market size for personal loan in India is Rs5.11 lakh crore, out of which only 15% is availed by women. Similarly, just 15% women have obtained an auto loan, which has a market size of Rs4.58 lakh crore. In home loan, however, women are seen availing more compared with the two other loans. In the home loan market of Rs20.6 lakh crore, share of women borrowers is 29% while 71% of the loan is obtained by men.

The average ticket size of a home loan when women borrow is at Rs16.38 lakh, which is 13.35% higher than what a man borrows that is Rs14.45 lakh. The average car loan size of women borrower is Rs4.79 lakh that is 7.3% higher than Rs4.46 lakh when a man borrows. For personal loans, women seem to borrow less than men. The average ticket size for female applicants is Rs1.68 lakh, which is 6.5% less than Rs1.79 lakh, the average loan availed by a man.

"Female borrowers also default less. Their delinquencies for home and auto loans are 15 and 10 basis points better than that of men," the report released ahead of International Women's Day shows.

"For home loans as well as auto loans, the delinquency of women borrowers at 0.63% and 0.96% is better off by 15 basis points and 10 basis points, respectively over the delinquency of male borrowers. On the other hand, for personal loans, the delinquency is almost at par for both men and women with a marginal difference of just one basis point, where women are deemed to be at a higher default risk at 0.70%," the release says.

According to the release, women borrowers from southern states contribute more as compared to western and northern states. However, Maharashtra tops the list of five states in auto and home loans, while in personal loans, Tamil Nadu emerges at top.