WOMEN’S ECONOMIC

EMPOWERMENT AND
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
DEVELOPMENT
C o n t e x t | O p p o r t u n i t i e s | C h a l l e n g es
CONTEXT
Globally, over 2.7 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as
men (Fifth Report on Women Business and the Law, World Bank, 2018). The report focuses on
seven indicators of gender equality and women’s economic participation: getting a job; providing
incentives to work; accessing institutions; going to court; using property; building credit; and
protecting women from violence. Though in India, the legal and institutional frameworks are more
equal and progressive compared to other countries, it has not translated into more women joining
the workforce and having a growing share in the entrepreneurship domain.

I
n India, women’s low work participation driven by run it. To further elaborate: an entrepreneur is aware of a
complex set of factors including norms, insufficient jobs need related with a product or service and creates a business
and increase in household income. Entrepreneurship is to fulfil that need, generally by taking on greater than normal
promising area for growing women’s work participation as financial risk in order to do so. It may be noted that entre-
there are opportunities for women from diverse contexts and preneurship is a practice by which the individual pursues
capacities within current social norms. opportunities and takes on the responsibility to establish and
The term women entrepreneurs, refers to women or run an enterprise.
group of women who lay the foundation of a business and

2 WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Entrepreneurship is a focus area for Government of India
(GoI) and its importance in the policy queue is increasing
as self-employment is being promoted as a solution to the

GoI focus on
growing needs of the increasing young work force/ youth
population.

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)

was established by GoI on November 2014 for enhancing
employability of the youth through skill development. The
promoting
National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) is a key initiative
of MSDE to raise awareness about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship
& related
recognize first generation entrepreneurs and their ecosystem
builders for their impact on entrepreneurship advancement.
A total of 43 awards under NEA were declared in year 2018
including two awards under special category-women. Since
2016, only 12 women have been honoured under different
categories including women’s category.
institutions

WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT 3

Micro Unit Development and Refinance Agency (mudra)1 mote women entrepreneurship: -
has been established by GoI in March 2015 with a mission Mahila Udyam Nidhi an exclusive scheme for providing
to create an inclusive, sustainable and value based entrepre- equity to women entrepreneurs.
neurial culture, in collaboration with partner institutions in Mahila Vikas Nidhi offering developmental assistance for
achieving economic success and financial security. At present, pursuit of income generating activities to women.
MUDRA extends a reduction of 25bps in its interest rates
to MFIs / NBFCs, providing loans to women entrepreneurs. Other initiatives of GoI to promote entrepreneurship include
MUDRA has enrolled about 200 institutions, including 93 Start-up India, Make in India, Stand-up India, Trade related
banks, 72 microfinance institutions, 32 Non-Banking Finance Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) etc.
Companies and 6 small finance banks for refinancing against Further, NITI Ayog recently launched Women Entrepreneur-
their lending to micro enterprises. Total disbursements under ship Platform (https://wep.gov.in/), to support budding wom-
PM Mudra Yojna during FY 2017−18 stood at Rs. 2,46,437 en led enterprises; Startup India has been organising Startup
crore. Out of this, 40% has been disbursed to women entre- India Yatra to select promising entrepreneurs from two and
preneurs and 33% has been disbursed to social categories three tier cities. Government has also launched Udyam Sakhi
(SC/ ST/OBC). portal (https://www.udyamsakhi.org/) to provide information
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has to women interested for self-employment. (website currently
been implementing two special schemes designed to pro- available only in English).

1
MUDRA is a refinancing Institution. MUDRA do not lend directly to the micro entrepreneurs / individuals. Mudra loans under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) can be availed of from nearby branch office of a
bank, NBFC, MFIs etc. MUDRA has been formed with primary objective of developing the micro enterprise sector in the country by extending various support including financial support in the form of refinance, so as
to achieve the goal of funding the unfunded. Source: https://www.mudra.org.in

4 WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

 GOI has defined women enterprises as “an
Women enterprise owned and controlled by a women
having a minimum financial interest of 51 per cent
entrepreneurs of the capital and giving at least 51 per cent of the

in India
employment generated in the enterprise to women.”

G
oI has defined women entrepreneurs based on preneurs are introducing products or services that are new
women’s participation in equity and employment of a to customers and not generally offered by competitors. The
business enterprise. Accordingly, the GOI has defined report also says that about 50% among those seeing good
women entrepreneur as “an enterprise owned and controlled opportunities to start a business express fear of failure which
by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51 per prevented them to start a business. As per the report, entre-
cent of the capital and giving at least 51 per cent of the em- preneurship in India is continues to be dominated by males
ployment generated in the enterprise to women.” as Female/Male Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity
India is witnessing a major growth in entrepreneurship. (tea3 ) ratio stands at only 0.62% indicating start at little more
According to Global Entrepreneurship Report 2018, India has than half the rate of men in entrepreneurship. The report
been ranked at five (5) in entrepreneurship context2 , further also mentions that business capital requirement of women
innovation among entrepreneurs is most prevalent in India entrepreneurs has largely been met by informal sources.
(47%) (after Luxembourg and Chile -both 48%) where entre-

2
GEM introduces a composite index, the National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI), which assesses the environment for entrepreneurship in 54 economies. Derived from 12 framework conditions, the NECI
weighs ratings for these conditions by the importance experts place on them. NECI results are consistently high in the East and South Asia region, where three economies rank in the top five for NECI results—Indone-
sia (2), Taiwan (4), and India (5). http://www.epf.um.si/fileadmin/user_upload/GEM_2018_-_2019_Global_Report_WEB_160119.pdf. Overall ranking of India is 68 and its regional ranking is 12.
3
GEM has coined the term Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) as entrepreneurial activity that is centered on the period preceding and immediately after the actual start of a firm. It includes the phases of
(i) nascent entrepreneurship when an entrepreneur is actively involved in setting up a business, and (ii) new business ownership, owning and managing a business in existence up to 42 months.

WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT 5

 The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs ranked India a low 52nd out of 57
countries when it came to women entrepreneurs’ ability to capitalise on opportunities
offered by their local environments. India had ranked 52nd in 2017 too.

As per the Sixth Economic Census (2013)4 report, released employment to 13.45 million persons (10.24%), out of which
by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 83.19% were without hired workers. About 88.8% of the
women constitute around 14% of total number of entrepre- workers were employed in the establishments hiring less than
neurs in India. The report indicates that about 58.5 million 10 workers.
establishments were found to be in operation, which includes As per the data in the report, the average employment in
34.8 million establishments (59.48%) in rural areas and nearly women-owned enterprises is a meagre 1.67 - most women
23.7 million establishments (40.52%) located in urban areas. run companies / set-up are small scale and self-financed.
Total number of establishments owned by women entre- Women entrepreneurs are in higher numbers in five states
preneurs was 8.05 million (13.76%) with Tamil Nadu having - Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and
the highest share (13.51%). These establishments provided Maharashtra.
The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIEW)5
2018 uses 12 indicators and 25 sub-indicators to track how
Overview of Women Entrepreneurs in India 57 economies (Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin
America, Middle East & Africa -representing 78.6 percent of
Number of
Establishments
(in million)
34.8
Rural Area
23.7
Urban Area
the world’s female labour force) differ in terms of the level
of Women’s Advancement Outcomes, Knowledge Assets &
Financial Access and Supporting Entrepreneurial Factors. The
index also explores conditions which are deterrents of wom-
en’s ability to thrive in the business world.
By women
entrepreneurs
(in million)
2.76
Agriculture
5.29
Non-Agriculture
As per the MIEW Report 2018 India ranked a low 52nd
out of 57 countries when it came to women entrepreneurs’
sector sector ability to capitalise on opportunities offered by their local
environments. India had ranked 52nd in year 2017 too.
Female Owners as a percentage of Total Business Owners
80,50,819 Total number of establishments
owned by women entrepreneurs
remains as the benchmark indicator of the MIWE 2018. For
India, it is at only 11%; the country shares the space with
other low-middle income markets such as Egypt, Bangladesh
and Tunisia.
52,43,044 28,07,775 MIWE 2018 report states cultural bias and lack of
Rural establishments Urban establishments access to financial services are amongst major hindrances
owned by women owned by women for women business holders. The report also indicates that
entrepreneurs entrepreneurs Indian women business owners are less likely to grow their
businesses, either locally or overseas, and are more eager to

66,97354 13,53,465 discontinue them than their counterparts in other countries.

It could be because their ventures struggle for funds or due
Women owned Women owned to continued non-profitability combined with lack of self-be-
establishments establishments lief/ entrepreneurial drive and low levels of training and
without hired workers with hired workers education.
The report suggests that women entrepreneurs appear to
thrive better in wealthy and more developed economies such
2.76 Million 5.29 Million as New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, the United States and Sin-
gapore, where the component scores for women’s advance-
Women owned Women owned ment, women’s knowledge assets and financial access, and
agricultural non-agricultural supporting entrepreneurial conditions are higher. Similarly,
establishments establishments
markets that are less wealthy and developed tend to render
Source: All India report of Sixth economic census 2016
comparatively less enabling conditions for women’s ad-
vancement as entrepreneurs.

4
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/All%20India%20Report%20of%20Sixth%20Economic%20Census.pdf
5
Source : https://newsroom.mastercard.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MIWE_2018_Final_Report.pdf

6 WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

State wise Women
Entrepreneurship in India
Total Women establishments Percentage of total establishments

Jammu and Kashmir

Delhi
31,292 | 0.39
70,434 | 0.87 Bihar
Himachal Pradesh 1,53,610 | 1.91
Chandigarh 49,173
5,783 | 0.07 0.61
Punjab Assam
Uttarakhand
110,921 | 1.38 1,54,158 | 1.91
31,419 Sikkim

Haryana
0.39 5,304 Arunachal Pradesh
1,24,524 | 1.55 Uttar Pradesh
0.07 6,413 | 0.08
4,82,379
Rajasthan 5.99 Nagaland
2,47,992 | 3.08 13,657
0.17
Gujarat
528,623 | 6.57 Manipur
88,286 | 1.1
Madhya Pradesh Meghalaya
2,23,405 | 2.77 29,530 | 0.37
Daman & Diu Mizoram
805 | 0.01 Jharkhand 15,828 | 0.2
54,732 | 0.68
Tripura
Dadar & Nagar Haveli
1,304 | 0.02
Orissa 14,506 | 0.18
2,49,600 | 3.1
West Bengal
Maharashtra
6,64,300 | 8.25 Chhattisgarh 8,31,337 | 10.33
Goa 77,976 | 0.97
16,656 | 0.21
Karnataka Telengana

5,45,806 | 6.78 356,486 | 4.43

Andaman and Nicobar islands

Kerala
2,513 | 0.03
Andhra Pradesh
9,13,917 | 11.35 84,912 | 34.8
Lakshadweep
460 | 0.01
Pondicherry
10,169 | 0.13
Tamil Nadu
10,87,609 | 13.51
Source: All India report of Sixth economic census 2016

WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT 7

 Young A
s per the report of The Global Youth Index 20186,
which is an assessment of youth development in 25

entrepreneurs,
countries, India ranks 16th in the overall index and 1st
in the group of south Asian countries examined. As per the
report, the strongest area for India is youth entrepreneurship

where are
supported by targeted policies and training opportunities. As
per the report, there is a clear divide when it comes to gen-
der. Young women are more likely to be outside education,

the women work or training in a majority of the countries surveyed, with

Pakistan, India and Saudi Arabia recording the largest gaps.
Women entrepreneurs in India are concentrated in Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). The latest availa-
ble data on emergence of MSME sector, summarised in the
tables below, indicates that there is limited participation of
women entrepreneurs in MSME.
As per the records 73rd round of NSSO , there are approx-
imately 12.4 million women owned proprietary MSMEs in the
country. More than 20% proprietary MSMEs are owned by
Status of enterprises women. The report also indicates need to bring unregistered
Fourth Census (2006-07) 0.35 women enterprises into the registered sector for better pros-
Micro enterprises (in lakhs) pects of women entrepreneurs.
Small enterprises (in lakhs) Maximum number of women led MSME units are in the
state of West Bengal followed by Tamil Nadu. Presented graph
18.06 showcases percentage share of MSME owned by women.
India is rising as a start-up country. As per available
Number of Women
Enterprises (in Lakh) 198.39 records, 1020 companies got seed funding in India in year
2016, of that only 156 companies (15%) have either women
founder / co-founder or CEO.
Source : DC-MSME

Status of MSME unit ownership Percentage share of MSMEs

Share among female owners Share among male owners
owned by women
States with the top five share
Number of units
6,08,41,245 25 23.42

123,90,523 20
PERCENTAGE SHARES

15

10.37
9.96
10
7.56 7.58
484,50,722
5

Source : DC-MSME
0
Uttar Pradesh Karnataka Telangana Tamil Nadu West Bengal
Source : Annual MSME Report, 2017-18

6
https://gyi.miskglobalforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/GYI-Key-findings-paper-English-12-Nov-2018-final.pdf
7
http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/publications/census10.pdf
8
http://www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/publication_reports/NSS_report%20582_73rd_round_10aug18.pdf

8 WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

 First generation women entrepreneurs are
Women’s shown to primarily venture into businesses
like garment manufacturing, beauty and
entrepreneurship wellness, home-based food processing,
catering, and day care.
and key challenges
T
he status of women in terms of economic participation and adequate finance from formal sources. The MIWE 2018
has been witnessing a change as a result of government report observes that cultural bias and lack of access to formal
efforts (particularly TREAD scheme, Rashtriya Mahila financial services are amongst major hindrances for women
Kosh (RMK), Stand Up India scheme, Mudra Yojana Scheme business holders in India.
for Women), improvement in education of women and raising It has been observed that first generation women entre-
awareness, growing industrialization and urbanization. It preneur generally venture into women oriented business-
appears that women are more willing to take risks and pursue es such as garment / dress materials; fashion, beauty and
entrepreneurial activity which has led to growth in women wellness; home based food processing; catering, day care etc.
entrepreneurs. due to the familiarity associated with the sector. The trend
Generally, most first generation women micro entrepre- appears to be similar in other countries. As per the 2017 State
neurs are either housewives or young professionals having no of Women owned business report, commissioned by Ameri-
previous experience of running a business. They are mostly can Express, half of the women run businesses are in Health
self-employed and home-based. The finance requirement Care and Social Assistance Including child day care and home
of most of the first generation women entrepreneurs is met health care services; Other Services (hair and nail salons
through informal sources as they are unable to source timely and pet care businesses), Professional / Scientific / Technical

WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT 9

 Women entrepreneurs also face gendered barriers to starting and growing their businesses,
like discriminatory property, matrimonial and inheritance laws, social norms which curtail
their mobility and ability to network, and lack of access to formal finance mechanisms.

Services (Including lawyers, accountants, architects, public over to husband / any other male member from family or go
relations firms and management consultants). for closure. Apart from social barriers, the key challenges being
Women entrepreneurs often face gender-based barriers to faced by women include: -
starting and growing their businesses, like discriminatory prop-
erty, matrimonial and inheritance laws and/or cultural practic- LIMITED ACCESS to finance due to inadequate avenues for
es) social norms blocking access to participation for business first generation women entrepreneurs due to lack of financial
networking, lack of access to formal finance mechanisms; records
limited mobility and access to information and networks, etc. LACK OF INFORMATION on available financial markets and
These challenges hinder women’s advancement and their inte- how to materialize linkage.
gration in the mainstream. LIMITED BUSINESS intelligence and knowledge of trends
Due to lack of business understanding and ability to man- due to lower level of digital literacy; and lack of understanding
age growth, either they limit the business activity or hand it on implementing ideas to ongoing business and marketing of
products.
LIMITED ACCESS to support network, also lack of availability
of support for rural entrepreneurs.
LESS EXPERIENCE in running an enterprise / business, strate-
gy & people management process, business formalization pro-
cess and limited knowledge about compliances and taxation.
ILLITERATE/LOW LITERATE women with entrepreneurship
abilities, especially in rural areas, also face constraints related
with access to financial and technical support to expand the
business from home based to commercial level.
LACK OF SUITABLE financial products and services for wom-
en entrepreneurs
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS especially generally don’t prefer
to link women owned enterprises due to small size, and uncer-
tainties involved with continuity of the business.
LIMITED ABILITY to own assets due to property rights and
inheritance laws
Despite supportive policies and institutional arrangements,
women entrepreneurship in India remains low. Entrepreneur-
ship is often regarded as a preferred choice among women
considering greater flexibility than day job. Due to technology
advancement and increasing e-business opportunities more
number of women may be nurtured to become entrepreneurs.
But a majority of women led enterprises remain home based and
unregistered and hence are unable to reap available benefits.
The women entrepreneurs, especially first generation
and stationed at districts / villages require sensitisation and
support to run and expand the enterprise. Women interested
to initiate business require information and market assistance
to initiate the business, also mentoring and support services to
facilitate sustainability.
Promoting women’s entrepreneurship will boost the
economy by better demand conditions, resource utilisation,
capacity expansion, increased employment – in the process it
would prove to be an effective tool to improve female labour
force participation.

10 WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

 ANNEXURE
1. The Proposal for Helping the Women Led the course and provide mentorship and other applicable
Small Businesses / Micro-Enterprises Grow assistance during support period.
1.1. Women Development Corporation, State Government Bihar, C. Broad Module Based Course Coverage:
may consider to set-up a WDC Women Entrepreneurship • Issues that limit women entrepreneurship opportunities
Development Cell (WDC-WEDC) at state level to extend and affect growth of businesses led by women. (district and
support to existing and prospective women entrepreneurs state based issues may be included in the discussion).
at districts with information, advice, and mentoring services • Key challenges being faced by women entrepreneurs while
in collaboration with relevant government bodies, support establishing and developing businesses.
organisations and other non-government agencies. A • Business Development and Formalization; Access to Fi-
similar cell has been set-up at the state of Kerala by MSME nance; Support network – Government and Other.
Development Institute, Thrissur . • Compliances and Taxation
1.2. It is suggested to conduct an assessment of registered and • Digital Literacy for Business; Market Intelligence;
unregistered women led enterprises across districts to E-Commerce
prepare capacity building and support service strategies • Mentoring Services
for entrepreneurs in Bihar. At later stages, it should identify • Monitoring and Evolution System – baseline,
women entrepreneurs under three categories: Midline and End-line
• Making district wise directory of supported
Women running Women keen Start-up Business
business women
home based to start an with women as
• Documentation, Making Case Studies, Sharing
enterprises enterprise founder/
Learnings, Policy papers
co-founder

1.3. The WDC- WECD cell may further set-up district level Wom- 1.1. District Based Enterprise Lab for Aspiring Women
en Business Centres (DL-WBC) to facilitate engagement of
Entrepreneurs
youth in entrepreneurship and economic empowerment
initiatives; act as interface between market and entrepre- A. Objective:
neur; organise capacity building programme and mentoring • A short week-long programme for identified women at pro-
services. ject districts aspiring to start their own micro-enterprise.
1.4. DL-WBC may run enterprise labs for select existing and
prospective women business holders. A brief on proposed
B. Course Design and Period of Support:
district based labs is presented below: -
• Week-long module based course (20-25 hours) to be deliv-
4.1.1. District Based Enterprise Lab for Existing ered to prospective / aspiring women entrepreneurs.
Women Business Holders • A general guideline / ready reference to be developed for
A. Objective: participants. This should cover information on financial as-
• To support women led early stage businesses by capacity sistance available at the district / state and include sample
building in entrepreneurship, providing information on project report generally desired by financial institutions.
available capital and support services, guide in upscaling C. Broad Module Based Course Coverage:
and achieving sustainability in the long run and provide • Scanning the business environment and identification of
mentoring support during period of support. Business Opportunity
B. Course Design and Period of Support: • Selecting an opportunity and deciding on enterprise to set-
• Three-month continuous support with 3 weeks (about up – target segment, players involved & competition, availa-
80-85 hour) classroom and on-job training followed by ble resources, risk factors, strategy to be employed etc.
mentorship support covering business intelligence, digital • Business Planning and Resource Mobilisation- Costing &
literacy for business, trend analysis, expansion, leadership Pricing, workers to place, capital deployment, analysis of
etc. The course should have an embedded training need returns and other financials.
assessment exercise. • Leadership building and situation analysis.
• The implementation of course will also have monitoring and • Business Formalisation and Development.
evaluation system. How and to monitor what indicators • Establishing linkages.
• The course module needs to be designed with integration of • Setting milestones, when to exit
case studies and practical examples. Suggest some module D. Monitoring and Evaluation System
sources that ca be used • To track trainees pursuing setting enterprise
• During mentorship period, provision for an App based sup-
port interface may be considered. Any examples? E. Documenting Success Stories
• Master Trainers to be developed at district level to deliver Bihar women Entrepreneuship Fund

9
http://www.msmedithrissur.gov.in/woman-cell 7 http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/publications/census10.pdf
References
https://smallb.sidbi.in/sites/default/files/knowledge_base/statewisedistributionofwomenentrepreneurs.pdf
https://smallb.sidbi.in/%20/fund-your-business%20/additional-benefits-msmes%20/women-entrepreneurship

WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT 11

 Centre for Catalyzing Change’s,
Sakshamaa, or the Initiative for What
Works, Bihar, aims to accelerate
gender focused and evidence-based
transformative policies for women
and girls in Bihar.
Sakshamaa is supported by the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation.

12 WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT