Capital Access Index.
Whether capital reaches the broad economy — MSME credit, tier-2/3 funding, and first-time borrowers, not just the metros.
The policy question the rest of the suite ignores: does capital reach the broad economy? Only ~20% of MSME credit demand is met (up from 14%, vs China 37%, US 50%) — a ₹20–25 lakh cr gap. The index reads 140 — access widening 15% YoY, but from a low base. Concentration (Gravity) is the disease; access is the cure.
Latest reads anchor to official 2025 releases (cited per reach gauge).
Share of MSME credit demand met through formal channels — the headline inclusion gap. Higher = wider access.
Source ↗ NITI Aayog / Policy Circle, 2025Udyam-registered MSMEs that have ever accessed formal credit — the on-ramp into the financial system. Higher = wider.
Source ↗ MSME Ministry / NITI Aayog, 2025Share of capital reaching beyond the top metros — the geographic democratisation of finance. Higher = broader.
Source ↗ Inc42 / Business Standard, 2026Private credit filling the bank gap for mid-market and underserved borrowers. Higher = more alternative access.
Source ↗ EY India Private Credit, 2025Reach to women-led, first-generation, and micro enterprises — the deepest part of the gap. Higher = more inclusive.
Source ↗ Ideas for India / NextBillion, 2025Smoothed, rebased, winsorised, weighted.
MSME demand met, new formal borrowers, tier-2/3 share, private-credit reach, and underserved access — the breadth of capital, not its volume.
Every pillar points up for inclusion. A rising CAI means capital is reaching further into the real economy.
The Capital Gravity Index measures how capital concentrates; CAI measures whether it also reaches the many. Read them as a pair.
The index can rise while the absolute gap stays vast — only 20% of MSME demand is met. The desk note always states the level, not just the move.
Built for government users: it tracks whether credit-guarantee schemes, account aggregators, and supply-chain finance are actually widening access.
- · Access ≠ adequacy — a borrower reached may still be underfunded; the demand-met pillar grounds the read in sufficiency.
- · Registration bias — Udyam coverage grows over time; the universe is normalised so registration drift isn't read as access.
- · Private-credit reach is double-edged — it widens access but adds shadow leverage; cross-read with the Stress Index.
- · Survey lag — inclusion metrics revise slowly; vintages are stamped and low-frequency pillars carried with a flag.
Data vintage June 2026. Latest reads anchor to NITI Aayog / Policy Circle (MSME gap), the MSME Ministry (Udyam credit), Inc42 / Business Standard (tier-2/3), EY (private-credit reach), and Ideas for India (underserved access). Inclusion metrics revise slowly; low-frequency pillars are carried with a flag. Monthly path reconstructed.
Methodology v3.1 (2026-06). Built to the OECD/JRC composite-indicator handbook and disclosed toward the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks: distance-to-reference normalisation, 3-month smoothing, a flagged contribution cap, weighted aggregation, plus a drop-one-pillar uncertainty band, an equal-weight robustness cross-check, and a data-coverage ratio (all shown above). Known limitation: the 24-month panel is too short for robust seasonal adjustment — India's March fiscal-year-end spikes are not yet removed. Series are point-in-time; published values are not silently restated.
Does capital reach? Monthly.
The Capital Access Index tracks whether finance reaches MSMEs, tier-2/3 towns, and first-time borrowers — every month.