Under the Udyam registration initiative, that aims to formalise the MSME sector, around 20 per cent businesses registered were by the women entrepreneurs.
Overall, 2 crore businesses were registered under the initiative in the period from July 1, 2020, to July 27, 2023.
As of now, Udyam registration portal is the only platform authorised by the government for MSME registration.
Prior to this, the government had the Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM) operational between September 2015 and June 2020.
As per the information shared by MSME Ministry, women MSMEs represented a 15.67 per cent share in the total UAM registrations during the period. Which was again quite good number.
“Women have now started realizing the importance of being financially independent. Numerous digital and fintech initiatives, enabling women with quick loans to start their own business, has also played an important role. There are use cases where startups provide the products and resources required for women to start their own business, thus making it easier for them to venture out,” said Dr Jasmin B Gupta, Global Specialist Advisor, Fintech Frontiers.
“Skill building workshops and financial support through priority sector loans made easy can go a long way in increasing the number of msme women entrepreneurs. We have seen number of incubation and accelerator programs started specially for women such as the Google Accelerator for women founders or the Aws Accelerator or the Swanari TechSprint by reserve bank innovation hub specially for women,” she said.
“These startup initiatives provide knowledge, networking and market access to women entrepreneurs. Pandemic had made it easy for women to start businesses from home. The same needs to be encouraged. A number of digital startups and NGOs are also promoting women entrepreneurship thus giving them the required resources, one such initiative being the EntrepreNaari program by Aspire For Her. Improving Financial Literacy is crucial to improving women entrepreneurship,” Jasmin believed.
Role of government
Government offers key schemes for the women-run MSME businesses that comprise increased guarantee coverage of credit to employee generation.
Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahila Coir Yojana, increased guarantee coverage of credit to 85% for women entrepreneurs under CGTMSE are the key offering by the government.
It also provides mandatory minimum 3% annual procurement by central enterprises and ministries/departments from women-owned micro and small enterprises.
PMEGP is aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector, women entrepreneurs get higher subsidy.
Under the Mahila Coir Yojana, the Ministry provides stipendiary training for women artisans in the coir industry and encourage them to set up their own micro enterprises by availing the benefits of PMEGP.
MSE-CDP, Tool Rooms & Technology Centres, Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), Procurement and Marketing Support (PMS) Scheme, Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Programme (ESDP) are some of the other key schemes for women entrepreneurs.
