Women Entrepreneurship

in India: Some Aspects

Dr. Madhuri Srivastava

Professor & Head
Department of Economics,
Former Director, Centre for Women Studies and Development
Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, India

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Why do Women Take-up
Employment?
• Push Factors
– Death of bread winner
– Sudden fall in family income
– Permanent inadequacy in income of the family
• Pull Factors
– Women’s desire to evaluate their talent
– To utilize their free time or education
– Need and perception of Women’s Liberation, Equity
etc.
– To gain recognition, importance and social status.
– To get economic independence

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Categories of Women
Entrepreneurs
• Women in organized & unorganized
sector
• Women in traditional & modern
industries
• Women in urban & rural areas
• Women in large scale and small scale
industries.
• Single women and joint venture.

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Categories of Women
Entrepreneurs in Practice in India
• First Category
– Established in big cities
– Having higher level technical & professional
qualifications
– Non traditional Items
– Sound financial positions
• Second Category
– Established in cities and towns
– Having sufficient education
– Both traditional and non traditional items
– Undertaking women services-kindergarten, crèches,
beauty parlors, health clinic etc.

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Categories of Women
Entrepreneurs in Practice in India
(Contd.)
• Third Category
– Illiterate women
– Financially week
– Involved in family business such as
Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal
Husbandry, Dairy, Fisheries, Agro
Forestry, Handloom, Powerloom etc.

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Supportive Measures for Women’s
Economic Activities and
Entrepreneurship

• Direct & indirect financial support

• Yojna schemes and programmes
• Technological training and awards
• Federations and associations

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Direct & Indirect Financial
Support
• Nationalized banks
• State finance corporation
• State industrial development corporation
• District industries centers
• Differential rate schemes
• Mahila Udyug Needhi scheme
• Small Industries Development Bank of
India (SIDBI)
• State Small Industrial Development
Corporations (SSIDCs)
Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,
Banaras Hindu University
 Yojna Schemes and
Programmes

• Nehru Rojgar Yojna

• Jawahar Rojgar Yojna
• TRYSEM
• DWACRA

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Technological Training and
Awards
• Stree Shakti Package by SBI
• Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India
• Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and
Development (TREAD)
• National Institute of Small Business Extension
Training (NSIBET)
• Women’s University of Mumbai

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
Federations and Associations
• National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (NAYE)
• India Council of Women Entrepreneurs, New Delhi
• Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
• Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka
(AWEK)
• World Association of Women Entrepreneurs
(WAWE)
• Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW)

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Women Entrepreneurship in
India
States No of Units No. of Women Percentag
Registered Entrepreneurs e
Tamil Nadu 9618 2930 30.36
Uttar Pradesh 7980 3180 39.84
Kerala 5487 2135 38.91
Punjab 4791 1618 33.77
Maharastra 4339 1394 32.12
Gujrat 3872 1538 39.72
Karnatka 3822 1026 26.84
Madhya Pradesh 2967 842 28.38
Other States & 14576 4185 28.71
UTS
Total 57,452 18,848 32.82
Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,
Banaras Hindu University
 Women Work Participation
Country Percentage

India (1970-1971) 14.2

India (1980-1981) 19.7

India (1990-1991) 22.3

India (2000-2001) 31.6

USA 45

UK 43

Indonesia 40

Sri Lanka 35

Brazil 35

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Women Entrepreneurship in
India
• Earlier there were 3 Ks
– Kitchen
– Kids
– Knitting
• Then came 3 Ps
– Powder
– Pappad
– Pickles
• At present there are 4 Es
– Electricity
– Electronics
– Energy
– Engineering

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Some examples
• Mahila Grih Udyog
– 7 ladies started in 1959:
Lizzat Pappad
• Lakme
– Simon Tata
• Shipping coorporation
– Mrs. Sumati Morarji
• Exports
– Ms. Nina Mehrotra
• Herbal Heritage
– Ms. Shahnaz Hussain
• Balaji films
– Ekta Kapoor

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 • Naina Lal Kidwai,
Investment Banker
• Fortune magazine listed
her as one of the world’s
most powerful
businesswomen in 2003.
India Inc recognises her as
one of its most powerful
investment bankers. But
Naina Lal Kidwai, HSBC’s
deputy CEO, can’t be
reduced to simple woman-
banker equations; her
professional vision
transcends gender

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 • Shahnaz Husain, Herbal
Beauty Queen She’s the
"Estee Lauder of India",
with even famous
department stores like
Galleries Lafayette in
Paris, Harrods and
Selfridges in London and
Bloomingdales in New
York stocking her
cosmetics, creams and
lotions.

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 • Vineeta Bali
• Director, Academic Success
Program
• she practiced law as a business
litigator for three years, and then
as a transactional attorney for
the Silicon Valley Law Group for
several years. Her main
responsibilities as a
transactional attorney were in
the following areas: mergers and
acquisitions, investor financing
and corporate funding, business
formation and corporate
governance, securities
compliance for privately held and
public companies.

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 • Lalita Gupte, Banker
• she’s created a
formidable global
presence of what was
once a native
development finance
institution. Account-
holders can now bank at
ICICI branches in UK,
the Far East, West Asia
and Canada. With ICICI
since 1971, Gupte was
the first woman to be
inducted on the board in
1984.

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University
 Problems
• Dual role to play at workplace & at
home place
• Subordinate to men
• Just that her being women
• Non-awareness of facilities provided by
government
• Competition with large scale units
• Problems related to marketing
Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,
Banaras Hindu University
 Suggestions
• Procedure of getting finance should
be simple
• Effective propagation of programmes
and yojna
• Linkages between product, services
and market centers.
• Encouragement to technical and
professional education.

Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University