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Industry Overview

BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) includes banking, lending, insurance, and intermediary operations. As of 2025, the industry employs approximately 7.2 million workers,^[1] and headcount is expected to grow at 8% CAGR to approximately 11.68 million by 2031.^[2] This growth is driven by rising insurance penetration, digital services, provision of low-cost services such as micro loans and peer-to-peer lending, alongside expansion of financial services into semi-urban and rural markets.

Where is the opportunity to add more women in BFSI industry?^[3]

Key entry-level roles in BFSI industry include field roles such as salesperson, collections officer, feet-on-street executive, and desk roles such as operations executive, customer support executive, documentation executive, and back-end tele-sales agent. The BFSI industry has high potential for employing more women in entry-level field roles:

• Field roles comprise 70-75% of entry-level workforce but have <10% gender diversity, whereas desk roles have 30-50% women, indicating a large, untapped opportunity in field roles
• Most entry-level field roles require only a 12^th pass qualification, making them accessible to non-graduate women

Why should BFSI companies aim to improve gender equity in field operations?^[4]

Hiring more women in field roles can:

• Improve customer experience (e.g., higher relatability and comfort for women customers) and brand reputation
• Improve work quality (e.g., fewer errors in documents handled by women)
• Improve work culture (e.g., lower absenteeism amongst women)

Why do BFSI companies have low gender equity in field operations today?^[3]

Company-level challenges

• Managers have safety and performance concerns (e.g., women may not be able to negotiate with customers)
• Job descriptions lack clarity on eligibility, requirements, and details on pay structure (e.g., fixed vs. variable pay break-up)
• Companies provide limited mentorship and onboarding support for specific skills (e.g., pitching skills for field sales roles)
• Companies lack safety and grievance redressal mechanisms (e.g., emergency support during field travel)

Ecosystem-level challenges

• Staffing vendors are unable to hire women for field roles quickly
• Cities/ towns lack affordable and safe transport facilities, especially in suburbs or during late hours
• Cities/ towns lack safe/ clean washrooms for women to use during travel
• Families make limited investments in assets (e.g., two-wheelers) and skills (e.g., digital literacy) for women

How can BFSI companies make field operations more gender-equitable?^[3]

• Build the organisation’s capability (1-6 months): Lay the foundation by setting up safety provisions, building inclusive hiring practices, and training managers to tackle gender biases
• Enable and support (6-12 months): Ensure sustained focus by training managers on women-friendly hiring and retention practices, and strengthening support for women workers via custom zone allocation, buddy mapping, and mobility support
• Formalize and sustain (12-18 months): Institutionalize gender diversity by offering incentives for staffing companies, setting up grievance redressal systems, and embedding accountability via diversity KPIs

How can BFSI companies track their progress on gender equity?

The Gender Equity Readiness Scorecard (GERS) is an open-source tool which offers a quick, objective assessment of gender equity within a company. The BFSI GERS tool evaluates progress on gender equity across five dimensions – outcomes, recruitment practices, infrastructure, capability, and accountability. BFSI companies can use the GERS tool to get a clear, objective baseline of their performance on gender equity in entry-level roles, identify the next set of practices to implement, and track progress over time. Ecosystem players (e.g., governments, funders) can leverage the GERS to nudge companies to prioritize gender equity, benchmark companies on their performance, identify emerging trends and challenges, and prioritize specific incentives/ programs for improving gender equity in the industry.