Women-owned business to grow manifold over next 5 years, says study

NEW DELHI: Women-owned businesses in India are expected to expand by up to 90 per cent over the next five years, despite the fact that government schemes supporting such entrepreneurs are under-utilised.

A well-known philanthropic organisation, EdelGive Foundation, conducted a survey in 13 states and Union Territories (UTs).

Nearly 3,300 women entrepreneurs, identified during the mapping of listed areas, were divided into three categories: manufacturing, retail and service delivery.

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A total of 1,235 women entrepreneurs were chosen for the study, and interviewed.

These entrepreneurs, as well as their family members, staff and customers, were interviewed. In addition, in-depth interviews with 20 NGOs who directly help women entrepreneurs were conducted.

According to the sources, starting a business improves the socio-economic and cultural status of about 80 per cent of women in semi-urban and rural India.

It was also discovered that, despite a number of state-run schemes and policies promoting women's entrepreneurship, adoption of these initiatives is limited.

Just one per cent of the women entrepreneurs polled have taken advantage of any government initiative, owing to the fact that only about 11 per cent are aware of such programmes.

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The multi-faceted study focused at a variety of factors, including social, financial, personal and familial factors, in order to better understand the overall journey of women entrepreneurs, as well as the position of government, NGOs and corporations in the ecosystem.

According to the sources, women-owned businesses in India are expected to grow by up to 90 per cent in five years compared to similar businesses in the United States and the United Kingdom which are expected to grow by 50 per cent and 24 per cent respectively over the same period.

Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, Manipur, Tripura, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Daman and Tamil Nadu are the states/UTs where the study was conducted.

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