India has witnessed a three-fold increase in population over the last half century without corresponding growth in opportunities, especially in rural areas. In recent years, the traditional roles of women have undergone some changes due to economic needs, and some efforts were made to bring visibility and mainstream women’s contribution to the overall growth and development of society. Self Help Groups (SHGs) are becoming one of the important means for the empowerment of poor women in almost all developing countries, including India through entrepreneurship development.

Empowerment:

The concept of empowerment is defined as the process by which women take control and ownership of their choices. The core elements of empowerment have been defined as agency (the ability to define one’s goals and act upon them), awareness of gendered power structures, self-esteem, and self-confidence.

Self Help Groups (SHG):

• Micro-finance with Self Help Groups (SHG) play an effective role for promoting women entrepreneurship and financial empowerment.
• The concept of SHGs has been proved to be a boon for the rural women in some states of India. It has not only raised their income but also their social status.
• The SHGs micro-credit mechanism makes the members to get involved in other community development activities.
• Micro-credit is promoting the small scale business enterprises, and its major aim is to alleviate poverty by income generating activities.

Financial Security through SHGs:

• NABARD launched a pilot project for women on SHGs in collaboration with commercial banks and regional rural banks.
• In addition, refinancing facilities are available through national banks for financing under the non-farm sector.
• Studies in three states reveal that the SHGs established have helped in better recovery of loans, development of thrift and self-help among members effective use of credit for the purchase of income generating assets, and empowerment of women. This type of growth is truly an inclusive growth in India which will lead to financial empowerment of women.

Government Initiatives:

• A special prize for “Outstanding Women Entrepreneur” of the year is being given to recognise achievements made by and to provide incentives to women entrepreneurs.
• The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has been implementing two special schemes for women namely, Mahila Udyam Nidhi which is an exclusive scheme for providing equity to women entrepreneurs and the Mahila Vikas Nidhi which offers developmental assistance for pursuit of income generating activities to women.
• The SIDBI has also taken the initiative to set up an informal channel for credit needs on soft terms giving special emphasis to women.

Start-up India:

• Through the Start-up India initiative, Government of India promotes entrepreneurship by mentoring, nurturing and facilitating start-ups throughout their life cycle.
• It has successfully given a head start to numerous aspiring entrepreneurs.
• With a 360 degree approach to enable start-ups, the initiative provides a comprehensive four-week free online learning program, has set up research parks, incubators and start-up centres across the country by creating a strong network of academia and industry bodies.

Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP):

• STEP was launched by the Government of India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development to train women with no access to formal skill training facilities, especially in rural India.
• The initiative reaches out to all India women above 16 years of age.
• The programme imparts skills in several sectors such as agriculture, horticulture, food processing, handlooms, traditional crafts like embroidery, travel and tourism, hospitality, computer and IT services.

Stand-Up India:

• Seeks to leverage institutional credit for the benefit of India’s underprivileged.
• It aims to enable economic participation of, and share the benefits of India’s growth, among women entrepreneurs, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Towards this end, at least one women and one individual from the SC or ST communities are granted loans between Rs. 1 million to Rs 10 million to set up Greenfield enterprises in manufacturing, services or the trading sector.    

Trade related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD):

• To address the critical issues of access to credit among India’s underprivileged women, the TREAD programme enables credit availability to interested women through non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY):

• A flagship initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), this is a Skill Certification initiative that aims to train youth in industry-relevant skills to enhance opportunities for livelihood creation and employability.
• Training and Assessment fees are entirely borne by the Government under this program.

Science for Equity Empowerment and Development (SEED):

• SEED aims to provide opportunities to motivated scientists and field level workers with focus on women to undertake action-oriented, location specific projects for socio-economic gain, particularly in rural areas.
• SEED emphasizes equity in development, so that the benefits of technology accrue to a vast section of the population, particularly the disadvantaged.

Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP):

• NITI Aayog launched the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), the initiative is aimed at building an ecosystem for women across India to realize their entrepreneurial aspiration, scale-up innovative initiatives and chalk-out sustainable long-term strategies for their business.
• The platform aspires to substantially increase the number of women entrepreneurs who will create and empower a dynamic New India.
• These aspirations are manifested in the three pillars on which WEP is built:
  1. Ichha Shakti (motivating aspiring entrepreneurs to start their enterprise)
  2. Gyaan Shakti (providing knowledge and ecosystem support to women entrepreneurs to help them foster entrepreneurship) and
  3. Karma Shakti (providing hands-on support to entrepreneurs in setting-up and scaling up businesses)

Mudra Yojana Scheme for women:

Individual women wanting to start small new enterprises and business like beauty parlors, tailoring units, tuition centres, etc. as well as a group of women. The loan doesn’t require any collateral security and can be availed as per 3 schemes.

1. Shishu – loan amount is limited to Rs 50,000 and can by availed by those businesses that are in their initial stages.
2. Kishor – loan amount ranges between Rs, 50,000 and Rs 5 lakhs and can be availed by those who have a well-established enterprise.
3. Tarun – loan amount is Rs 10 lakhs and can be availed by those businesses that are well established but require further funds for the purpose of expansion.

Women’s entrepreneurship can make a particularly strong contribution to the economic well-being of the family and communities, poverty reduction and women’s empowerment, thus contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs). Governments across the world, as well as various development organizations, are actively undertaking promotion of women entrepreneurs through various schemes, incentives and promotional measures.