Gender, Firm Dynamics and Education in Accessing Microloan: Commentary on Women Entrepreneurs in North East India

This commentary aims to examine the influence of gender on the accessibility of microloans in North Eastern Region (NER), India. Using data obtained from 200 entrepreneurs from NER, the article employed the logit model to address two key questions: (a) Does gender play an important role in access to finance? And (b) What is the role of Self-help Groups and education in access to finance? In the light of these research questions, findings from 200 small businesses are presented. The findings of the empirical analysis revealed that firm size, educational qualifications and gender of small business owners play a significant role in the accessibility of microcredit from financial institutions.