India Achieves Broad Women's Bank Account Access But Lacks Agency
· Business · Hindustan Times, Telegraph India
India has made significant progress in financial inclusion, with close to 590 million people enrolled in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana as of August 12, 2026, of which over 56 percent are women. Data from February 2025 shows that 89 percent of women among the poorest 20 percent of the population had a bank account by 2023. However, a next-order challenge persists regarding whether women exercise real agency over the funds in their accounts. According to an Observer Research Foundation paper, women hold only about a fifth of total bank deposits, and India records the world's largest gender gap in account inactivity at 12 percentage points, with roughly one-third of women's accounts inactive. A NITI Aayog report from April 2026 notes that women account for nearly 26 percent of formal credit, showing a gradual shift towards retail and business loans.
Why it matters
Low financial agency and high account inactivity among women limit their economic independence and broader participation in formal credit systems.
Read the original report — Hindustan Times
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