53% of women entrepreneurs use gold as collateral to get loans, shows survey; trend common in Chennai, Mumbai & Delhi

Gold remains one of the most popular items among ‘fashion and lifestyle’ for female shoppers in the country. However, it also holds immense significance among women when it comes to raising funds in emergencies. As more Indian women are looking to start their businesses, the yellow metal has emerged as one of the most common forms of collateral to raise funds, revealed a new survey, ‘Women and Finance.’

The survey conducted by CRISIL and DBS Bank India found that gold and property are the most preferred collateral options when women entrepreneurs opt for a loan. The trend is highest in Chennai, followed by Mumbai and Delhi.

The option of keeping gold to raise funds for business is least preferred in Kolkata, where only 11 per cent of self-employed women use gold as collateral.

21% of women entrepreneurs prefer bank loans to boost business

The report also revealed that 21 per cent of women entrepreneurs prefer a bank loan to fund their business. The low percentage indicates the need to improve women's access to finance options in India.

In metro cities, nearly 65 per cent of self-employed women have not taken any business loan, and 39 per cent of them rely on their personal savings to fund enterprises.

Chennai ranks top in use of gold as collateral to raise funds

In Chennai, nearly 52 per cent of self-employed women prefer gold as collateral for taking business loans. Meanwhile, only 22-25 per cent of women entrepreneurs in Mumbai and Delhi prefer this option. The trend was most dominant among female millennials, as 23 per cent of self-employed women aged 36-45 years used gold as collateral. The percentage was lower in women of other age categories.

UPI is the most preferred method for transaction

Highlighting the success of programmes like ‘Digital India’, the report revealed the massive popularity of the use of digital payment methods for transactions among women entrepreneurs. According to the survey, “73 per cent of self-employed women preferred receiving payments from customers digitally, and 87 per cent used digital methods to pay their business expenses.”

The survey revealed that the UPI payment mode was used for both receiving (35 per cent) and paying (26 per cent) business expenses. Despite its popularity, most of the women used cash for payroll and operational expenses.