PMMY: A Powerful Tool for Women’s Financial Independence
Last Updated on April 4, 2025 by Amit Patra
The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) symbolizes empowerment for women in the economy within the last decade. Today, 68% of 52 crore account holders are women who have undergone the transformation of PMMY in securing financial independence for those hitherto considered marginal or underserved.
Per-woman PMMY disbursements have grown at a CAGR of 13% since FY16 to Rs 62,679 as per a recent report of SBI Economic Research Department, while in the same period, per-woman incremental deposits have grown at a higher rate of 14% CAGR to Rs 95,269. This simultaneous increase in lending and savings indicates the successful intervention of the scheme that promotes sustainable financial inclusion.
The program has almost equally influenced various social groups, with nearly half of all accounts being opened by SC/ST and OBC communities and 11% opened by minority groups. The first place among states goes to Bihar, where around 4.2 crore beneficiaries are women entrepreneurs, followed by Tamil Nadu at 4.0 crore and West Bengal at 3.7 crore, while Maharashtra holds an impressive 79% share of women account holders.
Increasing loan sizes reflect the scheme’s growing success in promoting the growth of businesses. Average ticket sizes have gone near three times-upwards from Rs 38,000 in FY16 to Rs 1.02 lakh in FY25, while the share of entry-level “Shishu” loans down from 93% to 51.7% as borrowers are slowly shifting to the higher “Kishor” category.
Since its inception, PMMY has approved loans numbering over Rs 33.19 lakh crore fueling a model where collateral-free credit is required to stimulate grassroots entrepreneurship and for MSMEs to achieve sustainable growth.
