41
CHAPTER III
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA – MOTIVATION, OPPORTUNITIES AND PROBLEMS
3.1 Introduction
Women-owned businesses are highly increasing in the economies of
almost all countries. The hidden entrepreneurial potentials of women have
gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic
status in the society. Skill, knowledge and adaptability in business are the main
reasons for women to take up entrepreneurship. They span generations and are
there in every field, from tractors to television, from biscuits to banking, from
HP to hospitals. Denied entry into a male bastion, they create another industry
like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon. This chapter draws a brief discussion
on growth of women entrepreneurs, factors motivate them and opportunities
available for them to succeed.
3.1.1 Women Entrepreneurs in the Global Economy
As technology speeds up lives and the new millennium is now upon us,
it is useful to take time to reflect on what surely be one of the driving forces of
the global economy of the 21st century. Women are an emerging economic
force that policymakers cannot afford to ignore. However, governments and
institutions promoting democratic values make a real difference in women's
business organization in newly emerging market democracies.
In the global economy of the 21st century, international trade will be a
key source of economic growth and development. A recent survey conducted
in several countries by the National Foundation of Women Business Owners
(NFWBO) indicates that women-owned firms involved in the global
marketplace.
Women Entrepreneurs in the Global Economy have greater revenues,
are more optimistic about their business prospects and are more focused on
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
42
business expansion. Obviously, expanding into international trade can pay off
for women-owned firms. However, it is not clear that smaller enterprises are
benefiting from these potential as much as larger firms. Women's business
associations can and should ensure that their members are equipped to reap the
rewards of expanding into the international arena. Women must learn how to
play the international trade game, and a global network of women's business
associations can help them do that. Information technology can help identify
markets, provide information and spotlight trends about what the role of
women in national economies can play in coming years.
Today, women in advanced market economies own more than 25 per
cent of all business and women-owned businesses in Africa, Asia, Eastern
Europe and Latin America are growing rapidly. In some regions of the world,
transformation to a market economy threatens to sharpen gender inequality.
Some of these changes are simply the legacy of a gender imbalance that existed
prior to political and economic reforms. Other changes reflect a return to
traditional norms and values that relegated women to a secondary status.
Women's business associations play a vital role in identifying
appropriate and/or emerging sectors where women entrepreneurs can succeed.
The areas that are likely to take off quickly during a nation's market
revitalization are public relations, transport, delivery, producing and marketing
consumer goods, commercial banking, financial services, insurance and other
service-related industries. In this process, women business owners are
innovators, job creators and providers of economic transition.
Apart from profit making business organization, women as founders of
nonprofit organizations have catered to the needs of the poor and marginalized.
This kind of activity gave women in India an opportunity to enter the social and
political spheres in ways often denied to them due to their gender. Most of the
non-profit entrepreneurs as run by women for women, as many women who
seek to redress the inequities in society see themselves in India.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
43
3.2 Overview of Women Entrepreneurship in India
In India women entrepreneurship is a recent topic, which started only
after the 1970s with the introduction of the women’s decade (1975 to 1985)
and which mostly picked up in the late 70’s and 80’s. Research and
publications in India in this new area are very meagre. The little that is
available is the pioneering work done by certain organizations and institutions
engaged in the promotion of entrepreneurship.
The situation of the labour market for women has not improved either,
mainly because most parts of India are still underdeveloped with respect to the
necessary contributory factors to labour market development like increased
literacy, education and health standards. Under such circumstances women are
often found to be occupied in low productivity operations in agriculture and
other household-based sectors. In other words, they tend to operate in a world
of limited options devoid of meaningful alternatives and opportunities for
mobility into the more productive and skill-intensive sectors of the economy.
3.2.1 Women Entrepreneurs in India
Women entrepreneurs may be defined as a woman or a group of women
who initiate, organize and run a business enterprise. In terms of Schunpeterian
concept of innovative entrepreneurs, women who innovate, initiate or adopt a
business activity are called business entrepreneurs. The Government of India
has defined women entrepreneurs based on women participation in equity and
employment of a business enterprise. Accordingly, a woman entrepreneur is
defined as an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum
financial interest of 51per cent of the capital and giving at least 51per cent of
the employment generated in the enterprise to a woman.
They have made their marks in business because of the following reasons:
• They want to improve their knowledge in innovation and competitive
jobs.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
44
• They want the chance to control the balance between their families
responsibility and their business levels.
• They want new challenges and opportunities for self fulfillment.
3.3 Role of women as an Entrepreneurs
The role of women entrepreneurs in Indian context is discussed briefly:
i. Imaginative: It refers to the imaginative approach or original ideas with
competitive market. Well-planned approach is needed to examine the
existing situation and to identify the entrepreneurial opportunities. It further
implies that women entrepreneurs have association with knowledgeable
people and contracting the right organization offering support and services.
ii. Attribute to Work Hard: Enterprising women have further ability to
work hard. The imaginative ideas have to come to a fair play. Hard work is
needed to build up an enterprise.
iii. Persistence: Women entrepreneurs always have an intention to fulfill
their dreams. They have to make a dream transferred into an idea enterprise.
Studies show that successful women work hard.
iv. Ability and Desire to Take Risk: Women always desire to take risk and
ability to the proficiency in planning making forecast estimates and
calculations.
v. Profit earning capacity: Woman as entrepreneur has a capacity to get
maximum return out of their invested capital. For the same woman
entrepreneur also perform all the functions involved in establishing an
enterprise. These include idea generation, and screening, determination of
objectives, project preparation, product analysis, determination of forms of
business organization, completion of formal activities, raising funds,
procuring men machine materials and operations of business.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
45
3.3.1 Fredrick Harbiscon has enumerated the following five functions of a
women entrepreneurs
• Exploration of the prospects of starting a new business enterprise.
• Undertaking a risk and handling of economic uncertainties involved in
business.
• Introduction of innovations, imitations of innovations.
• Co-ordination, administration and control.
• Supervision and leadership.
In a nutshell, women entrepreneurs are those women who think of a
business enterprise, initiate it, organize and combine the factors of production,
operate the enterprise, undertake risk and handle economic uncertainties
involved in running a business enterprise.
3.4 Characteristics of Women Entrepreneurs in India
Indian women of today have taken many strides towards business
ownership. The broad classification of women business owners include women
who establish, inherit, or acquire a business; women who start businesses with
spouses or business partners but are either at the forefront or behind the scenes;
and finally, women who start fast-growing or part-time or slow-growing firms.
Although earlier researches on women entrepreneurs have suggested that
significant differences existed between female and male entrepreneurs.
However, more recent studies have shown that there are far more similarities
than differences between women and men entrepreneurs in terms of
psychological and demographic characteristics. The dominant predictors of
success in the case of women entrepreneurs are work experience and years of
self-employment.
Generally, women view their businesses as a cooperative network of
relationships rather than as a distinct profit-generating entity. This network
extends beyond the business into the entrepreneur's relationships with her
family and the community. Certain cross-cultural studies on women
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
46
entrepreneurs have reported that their management styles emphasize open
communication and participative decision-making, and their business goals
reflect a concern for the community in which the business operates.
The majority of women business owners operate enterprises in the
service sectors, whereas the majority of male business owners operate
enterprises in non-service sectors, particularly manufacturing. Women are not
only achieving economic independence and wealth creation for themselves, but
through job creation, they are also providing opportunities for others,
particularly for other women.
A series of researches have shown that the workforce of women-owned
businesses tend to be more gender balanced than the workforce of men-owned
businesses, although women business owners are more likely to hire women.
Put simply, an investment in women's entrepreneurship is an investment in the
economic independence and well-being of all women. In comparison to their
women counterparts who established their businesses two decades earlier,
women who have started their businesses sometime during the past decade are
more likely to have the following qualities:
� A higher level of education, previous professional and managerial
experience, as well as executive level experience
� A greater appetite for capital, both credit and equity
� A strong motivation for autonomy and achievement
� A dynamic personality
� A passion for what they do
� Creativity to innovate and implement
� Independence and self-reliance
� High self-confidence
� Willingness and ability to take risks
� Alertness to opportunities
� Ability to marshal resources
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
47
� Ability to respond to market and environment signals
Thus, from the above discussion, it can conclude that the following traits
of personality of women entrepreneurs: Risk-taker, Proactive Opportunist
Visionary, Inventor, Tolerance of ambiguity, Commercialiser, Desire for
independence, Trader, High energy, Innovator Ability to bounce back, Flexible,
Results oriented, Need for achievement, Allrounder, Internal control Decisive,
Self-confident, Self-Motivated and Pragmatic Flair.
EXHIBIT: 3.1 CHARACTERISTIC OF WOMEN AS ENTREPRENEURS
Women entrepreneurs tend to be highly motivated and self-directed.
They also exhibit a high internal locus of control and achievement, possess
certain specific characteristics that promote their creativity and generate new
Entrepreneurial Characteristics
High energy level
Personal Motivations
Self-employed father
General business management skills
Social adroitness
Interpersonal skills competence in finance, and in managing relationships
Risk- taking propensity
Focus
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
48
ideas and ways of doing things. Some generally observed characteristic
tendencies.
3.5 Factors Influencing Indian Women to Undertake Entrepreneurship
In spite of the growing number of female entrepreneurs, the share of
female entrepreneurs is still significantly low when compared to their
participation rate. However, there are several factors responsible for increasing
the level of female entrepreneurship in India.
i. Nature of Entrepreneurship: Women enter into entrepreneurial activity
because regular employment does not provide them with the flexibility,
control or challenge offered by business ownership.
ii. Motivation: Several evidences suggest that women do not lack the
motivation to enter into business ownership. They are often highly
motivated than their male counterparts to overcome the barriers to business
start-up.
iii. Empowerment: Indian women are becoming more empowered now-a-
days. Legislation is being progressively drafted to offer them more
opportunities at various levels.
iv. Social Conditions: Population growth results in a strong positive
relationship on entrepreneurial activity. Across genders, the increase in
demand and competition for jobs push more people into necessary
entrepreneurship. For women, in particular, the relatively high involvement
in necessary entrepreneurship indicates that self-employment is used as a
way to circumvent institutional and cultural constraints with respect to
female employment, as well as a way to provide supplemental family
income.
v. Economic Conditions: Auspicious economic conditions favour the
participation of women in entrepreneurial activity. The smaller amount of
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
49
financial capital requirement and higher proportion of available bank loans
positively correlates the level of female entrepreneurship to economic
condition. In fact, in a country like India, the relationship between the size
of unofficial economy and entrepreneurial activity is positive.
vi. Literacy and Education: Increased levels of education have played a
crucial role in initiating the process of entrepreneurship. It is not only the
illiterate that are starting the businesses but those with education and skills
are also exploiting profit opportunities.
3.6 Needs of Women Entrepreneurs in India
Some of the basic reasons identified that could be stated as the reasons
for women to start-up entrepreneurial activities are:
� More and better access to finance/credit is mentioned very frequently.
Give a woman 1000 rupees and she can start a business. Give her
another 1000 rupees and she will be able to feed not only for her family,
but for her employees as well.
� Access to business support and information, including better integration
of business services.
� Training on business issues and related issues
� Better access to local and foreign markets.
� Day care centres and nurseries for children, and also for the elderly.
� Positive image-building and change in mentality amongst women,
whereby women see themselves as capable achievers and build up
confidence.
� Breaking through traditional patrons and structures that inhibit women's
advancement.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
50
� Role modeling of women in non-traditional business sectors to break
through traditional views on men's and women's sectors.
� More involvement and participation in legislation and decision-making
processes.
� Removing of any legislation which impedes women's free engagement.
� Awareness-raising at the governmental as well as private level to truly
and really create entrepreneurial opportunities and not just programs that
stay on paper.
3.7 Growing Role of Women Entrepreneurs in India
Growing role of women entrepreneurs' in India can be summarized as:
i. Rapid Development
55
approval of the head of the family. Entrepreneurship has traditionally been
seen as a male preserve. All these put a break in the growth of women
entrepreneurs.
iii. Lack of Education: Women in India are lagging far behind in the field
of education. Most of the women (around sixty per cent of total women) are
illiterate. Those who are educated are provided either less or inadequate
education than their male counterparts partly due to early marriage, partly
due to son's higher education and partly due to poverty. Due to lack of
proper education, women entrepreneurs remain in dark about the
development of new technology, new methods of production, marketing
and other governmental support which will encourage them to flourish.
iv. Social Barriers: The traditions and customs prevailed in Indian
societies towards women sometimes stand as an obstacle before them to
grow and prosper. Castes and religions dominate with one another and
hinders women entrepreneurs too. In rural areas, they face more social
barriers. They are always seen with suspicious eyes.
v. Shortage of Raw Materials: The scarcity of raw materials, sometimes
notavailability of proper and adequate raw materials sounds the death-knell
of the enterprises run by women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs really
face a tough task in getting the required raw material and other necessary
inputs for the enterprises when the prices are very high.
vi. Problem of Finance: Women entrepreneurs suffer a lot in raising and
meeting the financial needs of the business. Bankers, creditors and financial
institutes are not coming forward to provide financial assistance to women
borrowers on the ground of their less credit worthiness and more chances of
business failure. They also face financial problems due to blockage of funds
in raw materials, work-in-progress finished goods and non-receipt of
payment from customers in time.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
56
vii. Tough Competition: Usually women entrepreneurs employ low
technology in the process of production. In a market where the competition
is too high, they have to fight hard to survive in the market against the
organised sector and their male counterparts who have vast experience and
capacity to adopt advanced technology in managing enterprises
viii. High Cost of Production: Several factors including inefficient
management contribute to the high cost of production which stands as a
stumbling block before women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs face
technology obsolescence due to non-adoption or slow adoption to changing
technology which is a major factor of high cost of production.
ix. Low Risk-Bearing Capacity: Women in India are by nature weak, shy
and mild. They cannot bear the amount of risk which is essential for
running an enterprise. Lack of education, training and financial support
from outside also reduce their ability to bear the risk involved in an
enterprise.
x. Limited Mobility: Women mobility in India is highly limited and has
become a problem due to traditional values and inability to drive vehicles.
Moving alone and asking for a room to stay out in the night for business
purposes are still looked upon with suspicious eyes. Sometimes, younger
women feel uncomfortable in dealing with men who show extra interest in
them than work related aspects.
xi. Lack of Entrepreneurial Aptitude: Lack of entrepreneurial aptitude is
a matter of concern for women entrepreneurs. They have no entrepreneurial
bent of mind. Even after attending various training programmes on
entrepreneurship women entrepreneurs fail to tide over the risks and
troubles that may come up in an organisational working.
xii. Limited Managerial Ability: Management has become a specialised
job which only efficient managers perform. Women entrepreneurs are not
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
57
efficient in managerial functions like planning, organising, controlling,
coordinating, staffing, directing, motivating etc. of an enterprise. Therefore,
less and limited managerial ability of women has become a problem for
them to run the enterprise successfully.
xiii. Legal Formalities: Fulfilling the legal formalities required for running
an enterprise becomes an uphill task on the part of a woman entrepreneur
because of the prevalence of corrupt practices in government offices and
procedural delays for various licenses, electricity, water and shed
allotments. In such situations women entrepreneurs find it hard to
concentrate on the smooth working of the enterprise.
xv. Exploitation by Middle Men: Since women cannot run around for
marketing, distribution and money collection, they have to depend on
middle-men for the above activities. Middle-men tend to exploit them in the
guise of helping. They add their own profit margin which results in less
sales and lesser profit.
xvi. Lack of Self-Confidence: Women entrepreneurs because of their
inherent nature, lack of self-confidence which is essentially a demotivate
them from running an enterprise successfully. They have to strive hard to
strike a balance between managing a family and managing an enterprise.
Sometimes she has to sacrifice her entrepreneurial urge in order to strike a
balance between the two.
In general the important problems faced by women entrepreneurs in
India can be summarised as:
� Women hardly interact with other women who are successful
entrepreneurs. This results in a negative impact on their networking
skills.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
58
� The areas, where one can see women acting as entrepreneurs, are in the
very typical women's sectors of 3Ps. This is also the area, where women
are accepted in society to be experts in and thus have the capacity for
entrepreneurial activities.
� It is clear that women have the responsibility of getting children and
taking care of them. Very few societies accept fathers taking over the
role of staying home and taking care of the children. Once these children
are old enough to take care for themselves, they have to bear an
additional responsibility of taking care of elder parents. If they want to
become entrepreneurs, the society expects them to be able to do both:
take care of the family and home and do business.
� Women are very critical when it comes to themselves – "can I really do
this, am I good enough, maybe I have to learn more, others can do it
better". It is quite interesting that many successful women have been
educated in only girls colleges and schools, which often deliver a safe
environment to try out one's personal strengths, learn to overcome
weaknesses and be proud of oneself.
� Discrimination is hard to believe but women are still treated differently
in Indian society. Women do get lower salaries compared to men doing
the same job, women do not have access to men-dominated networks
who take their decisions about successors in the company.
� Missing networks, through centuries businessmen have built up their
networks but women still have to learn to catch up.
� A lot of women tell stories about not being taken serious by bankers,
when they wanted to get a loan for their business. Often enough, they
have to bring their husbands or fathers to be able to be heard and receive
financing. So, the domination of men in the banking world is a problem.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
59
3.10 Challenges Faced by Women Entrepreneurs in India
One of the major obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs has been that
they are not taken seriously. Even though women have achieved credibility as
competent entrepreneurs in areas such as retail, personal services and business
services, perceptions that women-owned businesses are less successful, credit
worthy and innovative continues to be a barrier.
Besides this, there are several other challenges being faced by Women
Entrepreneurs:
i. Lack of Visibility as Strategic Leaders: Changing the perceptions about
the likely success of women-owned businesses depends on increasing
women's visibility in leadership positions within the greater business
community. In an assessment of women's presence as CEOs or Directors of
large business enterprises, it has been anticipated that the exodus of women
to entrepreneurial growth firms might be because women believe that they
have greater representation in strategic leadership positions in privately-
held or family-owned firms as they provide better opportunities for
leadership than available to women in publicly-traded companies.
ii. Differential Information and Assistance Needs: Another significant
need of many women business owners is obtaining the appropriate
assistance and information needed to take the business to the next level of
growth. Women entrepreneurs, those who were just starting their ventures,
requested assistance and training in implementing the business idea,
identifying initial sources of financing, and advertising/promotion and they
tend to collect information about these factors. The entrepreneurs who were
already established had a somewhat different set of needs including
financing for expansion and increasing sales.
(a) Using cash flow to make operational decisions
(b) Financing growth
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
60
(c) Increasing the value of the business
(d) Compensation for self and associates
(e) Hiring, training and motivating for growth
(f) Succeeding in a rapidly changing world
(g) Successful selling
(h) Sales force management
(i) Management success
(j) Problems and pitfalls of growth
Unfortunately, these differences in information and assistance needs can
be found across cultures as well as:
iii. Family Influences on Women Entrepreneurs: The overlapping of the
family and the firm is not significant for women business owners.
Unfortunately, little research has been conducted on the dynamics of
family-owned firms headed by women. As the boundaries between the firm
and the family tend to be indistinct, women operating family businesses
face a unique set of issues related to personal identity, role conflict,
loyalties, family relationships, and attitudes towards authority. Additionally,
family businesses owned by women are at a disadvantage financially and
are forced to rely on internal resources of funding rather than outside
sources. The critical role of family in business also emerges in cross-
cultural studies which show women relying heavily on the family for start-
up capital.
3.11 Steps Needed to be Initiated for Women Entrepreneurial
Development in India
A possible set of three inter-linked and inter-dependent clusters of
recommendations can be aimed at "pushing" a larger number of women
entrepreneurs towards growth opportunities, unlocking their potential as
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
61
creators of wealth and jobs, and providing a more conducive legal and
regulatory framework. These recommendations can also ensure the proper
positioning of "pull mechanisms" to enable the growth-oriented women
entrepreneurs to expand and grow in terms of investments, markets and profits.
i. Prioritizing and Pushing at the Micro-Level: There is a large and
seemingly ever-increasing number of women entrepreneurs operating in
micro-enterprises and in the informal economy. They can be facilitated to
grow into sustainable, formally registered and large enterprises with the
help of the following actions:-
� Conducting gender analysis for all entrepreneurial support
programmes
� Gathering data on women and men entrepreneurs
� Applying "target group segmentation" to women entrepreneurs
� Using targeted approaches for priority categories in order to provide
additional "push" to women entrepreneurs to the next level of growth
� Promoting mobilization and organization of representative
associations
� Examining differential impacts of governmental policies, programmes
and actions
� Promoting development of demand-led supports for women
entrepreneurs
� Promoting more flexible and innovative financial products by banks
ii. Unlocking and Unfettering Institutional Framework: Policies, laws
and overall regulatory environment are frequently seen as barriers and
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
62
disincentives to expansion and growth. However, they need to be promoted
in such a way that women entrepreneurs see the advantages of starting
business venture and the benefits that come with compliance.
� Reviewing impact of existing and new instruments on women
entrepreneurs
� Identifying those instruments that act as barriers to expansion and
growth
� Modifying or dismantling these instruments
� Taking account of the social and cultural contexts affecting policy
implementation and redress inequalities and abnormalities
� Making use of IT and associations so as to minimize the
administrative burdens on women entrepreneurs
� Holding regular consultations with key factors like women
entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs' associations, financial
institutions, etc, to review progress and identify new bottlenecks
iii. Projecting and Pulling to Grow and Support the Winners: The first
two sets of recommendations are aimed at trying to "push" more women
entrepreneurs into growth situations as well as ensuring that laws and
regulations do not stand in their way. The third possible recommendation
relates to facilitating and "pulling" the women entrepreneurs into situations
where they can actively pursue growth strategies.
� Providing incentives for expansion and growth after removing
barriers and disincentives
� Encouraging and rewarding dynamic representative associations
of women entrepreneurs
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
63
� Promoting strong links and synergies with existing major
economic players
� Profiling the economic and social contributors among women
entrepreneurs to the national economy
� Promoting and rewarding programmes that serve women
entrepreneurs
� Making full use of data gathered to inform new policies,
programmes and supportive actions
� Ensuring synergies between (a) women related ministry (b)
economic ministry (c) welfare and social development ministry in
the government
3.12 Measures taken by Government of India for Empowerment of
Women Entrepreneurs
There is growing evidence all over the world that Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the national economic
development of any country. They provide majority of new jobs and produce
much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress. The extra
growth over the past several years throughout the industrialized countries has
been due to the growth of SMEs. In India, the Ministry of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSME) is implementing the promotional schemes for the
development of micro, small and medium enterprises. The schemes and
programmes generally focus on capacity building in states and regions,
nevertheless, there are a few schemes and programmes, which are individual
beneficiary-oriented.
While there are no specific reservations for women, in the latter, there are
some concessions/incentives available under these programmes for the benefit
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
64
of women entrepreneurs. In respect of entrepreneurship/skill development
training programmes, under the National Awards for Entrepreneurial
Development (Quality Products) and Trade Related Entrepreneurship
Assistance and Development (TREAD) Programme for women, the necessary
guidelines have been issued and specific reservation provided for women.
Similarly, under two employment generation programmes being
implemented by the Ministry like Rural Employment Generation Programme
(REGP) and Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), some concessions have
been provided for women beneficiaries. Besides, the Coir Board is
implementing the Mahila Coir Yojana, which is a women-oriented self-
employment programme.
a. TREAD
The Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development
(TREAD) scheme for women envisages economic empowerment of women
through development of their entrepreneurial skills in non-farm activities. The
government’s grants up to 30 per cent of the total project cost is provided to the
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) for promoting entrepreneurship
among women. The remaining 70 per cent of the project cost is financed by the
lending agency as loan for undertaking activities as envisaged in the project.
Further, the government grants up to Rs.1 lakh per programme is provided to
training institutions/NGOs for imparting training to the women entrepreneurs.
Under this scheme, proposals involving grant of Rs.51.65 lakh to 16 NGOs /
institutions have been approved for benefiting 1700 women.
b. REGP
Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP) is a flagship scheme
of the government for employment generation programmes in the unorganized
sector. Though there are no specific reservations for women entrepreneurs
under this scheme, still there has been substantial participation (around 30 per
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
65
cent) of women as a result of the promotional efforts undertaken in this regard.
Under this programme, 3,656 projects of women entrepreneurs involving a
margin money of Rs. 6800 lakhs has been distributed as government grant
during 2008-09.
c. PMRY
During 2006-07, the participation of women in terms of employment
generation under Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) was 16.5 per cent.
Under the scheme, preference is given to women beneficiaries. The
government also made several relaxations to women to facilitate the
participation of women beneficiaries.
d. Mahila Coir Yojana
Mahila Coir Yojana is a woman-oriented self-employment scheme in the
coir industry, which provides self-employment opportunities to the rural
women artisans in regions producing coir fibre. The scheme envisages
distribution of motorized ratts (machine) for spinning coir yarns to women
artisans after giving training. Women spinners are trained for two months in
spinning coir yarn on motorized ratt at the Coir Board’s training centers. A
stipend of Rs.500 per month is also paid to the trainees. The Coir Board
provides motorized ratts / motorized traditional ratts at 75 per cent cost
subsidy, subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs.7,500/- for motorized ratts and
Rs.2,925/- for traditional ratts. During 2008-09, 2,042 ratts have been
distributed.
e. Training of Women Entrepreneurs
The industrial policies of the government announced from time to time
have laid considerable emphasis on promotion of women entrepreneurship,
particularly among first generation women entrepreneurs, through various
training and support services. Special attention is being given by organizing
exclusive Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs) for women.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
66
During 2007-08, approximately 15,000 women participated in these training
programmes. In addition to programmes and schemes of MSME, NSIC, KVIC
and Coir Board relating to conduct of EDPs and SDPs for benefit of potential
women entrepreneurs, three national level entrepreneurship development
institutes set up by the Ministry, particularly Indian Institute of
Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati, are also undertaking training programmes
for skills and entrepreneurship development for women. The National Institute
for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Noida,
has conducted seven training programmes exclusively for 327 women
participants during 2008-09.
f. Promotional Package
In March 2007, the Government has announced a comprehensive
Package for the Promotion of Micro and Small Enterprises, which comprises
several proposals and schemes having direct impact on the promotion and
development of the micro and small enterprises. These, inter alias, include
credit and fiscal support, cluster-based development, infrastructure, technology
and marketing support. Capacity building of MSME Associations and support
to women entrepreneurs are the other important features of this Package.
g. Enhanced Credit Flow to The MSE Sector
For strengthening the delivery of credit to the MSEs, the Government
announced a ‘Policy Package for Stepping up Credit to Small and Medium
Enterprises (SME)’ in August 2005 for doubling the credit flow to this sector
within a period of five years. This has resulted in a significant increase in the
credit flow from Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to the micro and small enterprises
(MSE) sector — with the outstanding credit of public sector banks increasing
from Rs.58, 278 crores at the end of March 2004 to Rs.1,88, 681 crores at the
end of March 2009.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
67
h. Skill Development
The Government has taken up skill development as a high priority area
through various measures like enhancing the training capabilities of the Tool
Rooms, MSME Development Institutes and other organizations under the
Ministry of MSME. The agencies under the Ministry of MSME conducted
programmes for skill development for nearly 1.8 lakh trainees during 2007-08
and 2008-09, 3 lakh were trained. The Ministry of MSME provides all such
trainings for SCs/STs, free of cost. Similar programmes are also being
organized for women and other weaker sections of the society free of cost,
besides providing a monthly stipend of Rs.500/- per month during the entire
period of training.
i. Cluster Development Programme
For the last few years, the Government has been focusing on the strategy
of Cluster Development for development of the MSEs - through which
different ‘clusters’ and concentrations of enterprises are given the benefit of a
whole variety of interventions ranging from exposure to skill development,
from credit to marketing and from technological improvements to better
designs and products. About 412 clusters have been approved for interventions
under the scheme (including 50 clusters for hard interventions, 152 clusters for
soft interventions and 210 clusters for diagnostic studies).
j. Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana
The new scheme was launched on February 7, 2008. The main objective
of the scheme is to promote and support establishment of micro and small
enterprises through handholding of potential first generation entrepreneurs,
who have already successfully completed Entrepreneurship Development
Programme (EDP), Skill Development Programme (SDP) etc.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
68
k. Sick Small-Scale Industries
The total number of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the country
as on 31st of March 2007 is estimated to be 1,28,46,365. As per data compiled
by the Reserve Bank of India from the scheduled commercial banks, the
number of sick MSEs at the end of March 2009 is 83,077.
i) National Fund For Unorganised Sector
The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector
(NCEUS) in one of its reports has recommended creation of a National Fund
for the unorganized sector. The Minister for Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises, created fund for unorganized factor assistance in the Budget 2009-
10. MSME has continued to contribute significantly in the gross domestic
product, industrial production, employment generation and exports and has
acquired a prominent place in the economy of the country.
ii) South Asian Women Leadership Forum (SAWLF)
SAWLF works for the advancement of South Asian women in the
marketplace. It provides educational programmes and networking
opportunities, conducts research and offers outreach that supports the
advancements and undertaking of women at all stages of professional
development.
A vital link to economic decision-making processes, these associations
have made their members' visions and priorities a part of the national, political
and economic agenda. Around the globe many more organizations are
contributing in similar ways.
Associations cover a wide spectrum of activities encompassing credit,
business skills training, technical and technology training, employment
creation, marketing services, legal assistance, psychological counseling, and
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
69
some social welfare programs. Some organizations, like the Grameen Bank in
Bangladesh, specialize in providing micro credit.
Since associations encourage solidarity and collective action between
the groups they help organize and among the members who join, the increasing
contact between associations and other institutions can help create a
commanding web of alliances dedicated to the political and economic
empowerment of women. Partners in these new social pacts have build on the
survival strategies devised by grassroots associations. Grassroots tactics have
proved successful in many regions: in poor women' cooperatives, in
businesswomen's organizations and in associated movements especially in rural
India.
Also government's support and encouragement of individuals'
entrepreneurial behaviour have positive impact on the country's economy.
However, this behaviour depending upon the influence of economic
development state and cultural values women have gained. A gender split in
terms of motivating factor and individual characteristics provides divergent
views of entrepreneurship. The common way to explaining why women start a
business is associated with the individual needs for independence,
self-achievement and job flexibility.
3.13 Strategies for Promoting Women Entrepreneurship
Keeping in mind the findings made from the extensive literature review
of past literature the research comment that strategies have to be developed and
relevant suggestions are outlined for solving issues faced by women
entrepreneurs. There is no single approach to this issue. Therefore, a
multi- dimensional, flexible, integrated, co-ordinated, area specific approach is
necessary. Promoting entrepreneurship among women is especially important
to tackle the problems of under employment and unemployment in the society.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
70
There is a need to orient the women towards opting for entrepreneurship
as an attentive and better career option so that the entrepreneurial and
managerial capabilities of women can be exploited to the hilt. It is needless to
mention that the initial pains and hard work in setting up of an entrepreneurial
venture get compensated multi-fold upon successful running of an enterprise.
Further, family members will get an opportunity to become entrepreneurs
besides creation of employment avenues for others.
Education has been instrumental in increasing the participation of
women in entrepreneurial activities. The formal education not only helps in
acquisition of required knowledge for a job, which demands non-traditional
skills but also imparts knowledge about the different occupational
opportunities. Good academic background makes women confident in dealing
with problems in business in an effective manner. Although it is a fact that
entrepreneurship is not a special preserve for the educated but in the case of
women already burdened with many social pressures, education is a powerful
tool in breaking down the barriers to successful entrepreneurship. Thus,
education is a liberating force and barriers of caste and class, smoothing out
inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances.
The success of women in various fields including entrepreneurship is
considered to boost the morale of enterprising women. As a result they are
coming gradually out of the shadows of their male counterparts and have
started establishing their own independent identities as successful
businesspersons. A perceptible change in the attitude of the society by way of
increased social freedom and liberty to women has also contributed
significantly in their new role as women entrepreneurs.
Positive attitudinal change in the society recognizing the role of women
as entrepreneurs may lead to the development of appropriate environment in
which women will be able to exploit their entrepreneurial talents. A woman
entrepreneur should herself set up an example by being successful and should
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
71
act as a role model. Since children have a tendency to emulate their parents, the
resultant effect would be automatic.
3.14 Conclusion
With relevant education, work experience, improving economic
conditions and financial opportunities, more women around the world are
creating and sustaining successful business ventures. This will not only have an
impact on the economies of the countries in which women own their businesses
but also will change the status of women in those societies. It is likely that, as
we begin this millennium, this will be the century of the entrepreneurs in
general and of the women entrepreneurs in particular. The following chapter
IV and chapter V draws a detailed empirical analysis on the growth,
opportunity and problems faced by micro and small-scale women
entrepreneurs' in Erode district, Tamilnadu.
Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark.
Top Related