Women entrepreneurs make for prudent borrowers, investing in them is profitable: IndiaP2P’s Neha Juneja
IndiaP2P was founded in 2021 by Neha Juneja as a platform that focuses on empowering women entrepreneurs. With 96% of its borrowers being women leading SMEs, particularly in rural areas, IndiaP2P has grown through partnerships with organisations and microfinance institutions across regions like Nagaland, the southern states, and Maharashtra by providing essential capital to these entrepreneurs. In a chat with ETDigital, Juneja, the CEO and Co-founder of the platform, talks about what she wants to achieve, why IndiaP2P has placed a bet on women entrepreneurs and the role of the regulator in the fintech space. Edited excerpts.
Economic Times (ET). When did you start IndiaP2P and what was the idea behind it?
Neha Juneja (NJ): We started operations in 2022 with a core thesis that women and small business owners make for prudent borrowers. Investing in them is both profitable and purposeful, given the direct and second-order effects of enabling income expansion, especially for women.
Building on this thesis, we now source loans predominantly from women businesses nationwide and curate them for retail lenders to lend to.
ET: The P2P sector in India has been around for some time with some established players. How do you plan to make an impact?
NJ: Our differentiation is our target borrower base and underwriting therein. We have tailored processes and algorithms to source and assess small loans (up to Rs 100,000). Our sourcing practices make it easier for women to borrow in comparison with traditional lenders.
ET: Given
