India P2P Revolutionizes Financial Inclusion: How Neha Juneja is Using Peer-to-Peer Lending to Empower India's Underserved Women Entrepreneurs

India is a credit-starved nation. While the urban elite and massive corporations enjoy seamless access to capital, the backbone of the Indian economy—small business owners in non-urban regions—often finds itself locked out of the formal banking system. This disparity is even more stark for women. Despite data consistently showing that Indian women have higher CIBIL scores and lower default rates than men, they receive only a fraction of the credit they deserve. Traditional banks often find small-ticket loans (₹30,000 to ₹2 Lakhs) too expensive to process, leaving these entrepreneurs at the mercy of high-interest informal lenders.

Enter Neha Juneja, the co-founder and CEO of India P2P. A serial entrepreneur who previously impacted 3 million lives through her clean-energy venture Greenway Grameen, Neha is now using technology to bypass institutional middlemen. By connecting retail lenders directly with vetted women borrowers, India P2P is creating a "win-win" ecosystem where investors can earn up to 18% annual returns while providing the lifeblood of capital to India’s most reliable entrepreneurs.

The Genesis: From Derivatives to Clean Cookstoves

Neha’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2008, right at the onset of the global financial crisis. Her first venture—a website providing derivatives pricing to retail investors—taught her a hard lesson about the "win-loss" nature of certain financial products. "In derivatives, most people lose money," Neha reflects. "We wanted to build something where everyone wins."

This led to the creation of Greenway Grameen, a social enterprise focused on clean cooking stoves for rural women. It was during this decade-long journey that Neha developed a deep conviction about the power of the "Self-Help Group" (SHG) model. She observed that rural women, when aggregated and given the right tools, were not just fantastic users of technology but also absolutely fantastic borrowers. They grew their incomes, their families' prosperity, and their communities' wealth with remarkable speed.

The Problem: The "Institutional Middleman" Tax

In the traditional Indian lending landscape, capital flows through a series of expensive "pipes." An individual puts money in a bank; the bank lends it to a large NBFC; that NBFC lends it to a smaller micro-finance institution; and finally, it reaches the borrower. Each layer adds a "middleman tax" in the form of operational costs and profit margins.

"Banks don't like to give out ₹50,000 loans because they are too small to underwrite profitably," Neha explains. "By the time capital reaches a rural entrepreneur, the interest rate is high, and the saver (the lender) gets a meager return. Peer-to-peer lending is the most efficient way to remove these institutional middlemen."

Operational Rigor: The "Feet-on-Street" Fintech

While many fintechs rely solely on digital fingerprints like SMS reading or app usage patterns, India P2P has adopted a more robust, "Bharat-focused" approach. Neha realizes that for a small business owner in a semi-urban town, there is no "Form 16" or salary slip. The only way to truly understand their creditworthiness is to meet them.

India P2P employs an agent-led field model across 51 locations. When a borrower applies via the app, an agent visits their place of work—be it a wedding decoration business or a beauty salon. They check bill books, take pictures, and conduct interviews to assess the actual income-generating capability of the business.

The Irony of the "Women's Bias"

One of the most poignant points Neha raises is the blatant data-defying bias against women in finance. "If you look at reports from TransUnion CIBIL, women consistently have higher credit scores than men," she notes. "And yet, if a woman has ₹100 in her account, a bank might give her a ₹25 loan, whereas they would give a man ₹70."

Traditional institutions often require a "No Objection Certificate" (NOC) from a husband or male relative for a woman to get a loan—a requirement rarely imposed on men. India P2P counters this by intentionally focusing on women, providing them the credit they have statistically earned through their disciplined repayment behavior.

The Future: The Looming Pension Crisis

When asked about the next big problem for Indian entrepreneurs to solve, Neha points to a demographic time bomb: Pensions. With the job market being disrupted by AI and the "fruitful jobs" of the future becoming uncertain, today's young Indians may face a massive crisis when they reach 60 or 65.

"How many fruitful jobs remain 40 years down the line is a question mark," she warns. "Encouraging people to save, invest, and build long-term capital through efficient financial services isn't just a business; it's a national necessity."

Conclusion: Building a Legacy of Prosperity

For Neha Juneja, entrepreneurship is about building something scalable that leaves a legacy. By turning the "informal" roots of Indian lending into a regulated, tech-enabled asset class, India P2P is doing more than just facilitating loans; it is democratizing the ability to create economic value. In a world of complex financial products that often leave users behind, India P2P stands as a testament to the power of a "win-win" model that trusts in the grit and reliability of the Indian woman.