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Eduved International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research ISSN 2348-6775 (Online) 2349-5480 (Print)

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Vol. 01 Issue 07 Oct. 2014

SUCCESS TOWARDS WOMEN ENTRPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA –ISSUES & CHALLENGES

Prof. (Dr.) Surendra Kumar School of Management, Babu Banarasi Das University, Lucknow

Prof. Meetu Pandey

Deptt. of Management, Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of Technology & Management, Lucknow

ABSTRACT

A woman entrepreneur is defined as, “an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman and having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the employment generated in the enterprises to women”, however, this definition is subject to criticism mainly on the condition of employing more than 50 percent women workers in the enterprises owned and run by the women. With growing awareness about business and spread education among women over the period, women have started shifting from 3Ps, Pickles, Powder and Pappad to engross to 3 modern Es, viz., Engineering, Electronics and Energy. They have excelled in these activities. Women entrepreneurs have been making a significant impact in all segments of economy in world such as Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Australia and the U.S. The areas chosen by women are retail trade, restaurants, hotels, education, cultural, cleaning, insurance and manufacturing.

About 52.5 percent of the total numbers of males were gainfully employed in India; the corresponding percent of women was only 12. Further stated that out of 1.8 million small-scale units, those owned by women were not more than 0.15 million i.e., about 8 percent only. Out of this, 25.5 percent of women entrepreneurs were involved in manufacturing food products, 16.11 percent in chemical units, 14.15 percent in textile units, 9.14 percent in engineering sector and 5 percent in plastic and rubber units. Thus, the proportion of women in food processing enterprises was more as compared to other non-traditional enterprises in India. A group oriented model, SHGs (Self Help Group) in India is a mechanism for women’s development to bring in individual and collective empowerment through improvement in both ‘condition’ and ‘position’ of women.

In India, due to traditional grooming the Indian women mostly take up enterprises in low cost, low value items like food items (pickles, papads, eatables) on embroidery, handicrafts, lunch packages, creches, florist shops, Xerox firms and managing girl’s hostels. We see more women entrepreneurs coming up in metro cities and industrial towns of Maharashtra, Gujarat, AP, TN, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab and Haryana. Even they have all the capabilities to become CEOs and Directors of large size corporate. In spite of this we have very few women entrepreneurs in our country. The main barriers are (a) role of motherhood and family responsibility, (b) socio-cultural and traditional values, (c) inability to cope up with tension and pressure of entrepreneurship and (d) family restrictions are very common and general remarks made on women. These factors can only gradually change with better education, training and development. This paper especially focuses on the concept of women entrepreneurs in India;


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their traits in business, the motivating factors and problems faced by them when they set up and make some suggestions for future prospects for development of women entrepreneurs.

Key words: Employment, 3 Ps, SHG, Family Responsibility, Business Traits

INTRODUCTION

This paper proposes to identify the major problems of women entrepreneurs in delhi with the objectives of analyzing the various problems faced by them and by suggesting the remedial measure which will help in the acceleration of women Entrepreneurship in the city. This study also highlighted many factors that have motivated women entrepreneurs in starting an entrepreneurial career. Success has been seen mostly among the mid thirty and early forty age group. The government schemes, incentives and subsidies have stimulated and provided support measures to women entrepreneurs in and around the city. In this research, one of the findings was that while a majority of women came from a family business as a core background and they were mostly married to business families

Entrepreneurs play very important role in socio-economic welfare of the country. They identify the needs of the business, purchase the other factors of production and coordinate them for some productive purposes. They are the innovators, researchers and risk-takers of the company. Due to the mixed economy in India, both public and private entrepreneurship exists here. Large scale sectors are under the public entrepreneurship. The middle and small scale sectors are under the private entrepreneurship. In order to develop entrepreneurship in this sector, Government of India has stepped towards the Entrepreneurship Development Programmes.

In modern era, when women are showing their capabilities in various walks of life, the entrepreneurial classes of women are playing an increasingly prominent role in various sectors of industrial growth and economic development. Entrepreneurship amongst women is a relatively recent phenomenon, which is gradually changing with the growing sensitivity of the roles responsibilities and economic status of women in the society in general and family in particular.

At the same time, it is also recognized that their challenges are immense and complex. For women entrepreneurs, starting and operating a business involves considerable risks and difficulties, because in the Indian social environment women has always lived as subordinate to men. There have been noticeable changes in the socio-psycho-cultural and economic norms of our society due to liberalized policy of the government of India, increase in the education levels of women and increased social awareness in respect of the role women plays in the society. It has now been recognized that to promote self-employment and to reduce the incidence of poverty, some drastic efforts have to be made to accelerate self-employment of women in various sectors.

The word entrepreneur is derived from the French word ‘entreprendre’ which means ‘to undertake’ i.e. individuals who undertake the risk of new enterprise. The word entrepreneur, first appeared in the French language in the beginning of the sixteenth century. But it was Richard Cantilons, an Irishman, living in French who first used the term entrepreneur to refer to economic activities.


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Peter F. Drucker defines an entrepreneur as one who always searches for change, responds to it and exploits it as an opportunity. Innovation is the basic tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or service.

Women constitute around half of the total world population so is in India also. They are therefore, regarded as the better half of the society. In the traditional Indian society, a distinction was made between ‘men’s work and ‘women’s work, particularly that of the women with family responsibility.

Considering the traditional role of women, going back to the Vedic Age, it is seen that the Rig Vedic Age women were the co-partners in life, pleasure and hazards. Indian societal norms and values but yet amongst it, the status and role of women have witnessed rapid changes in recent years. The thoroughly domesticated women who could not think beyond the welfare of their families have now awakened to action.

The attitude of women is not so rigidly unfavorable as it was in the past. Before independence women were engaged mostly in agriculture, household duties or at the most in families trade activities. The social constraints and attitudes that inhibit the development of women entrepreneurs, the atmosphere in which they work and the attitude of society, all together were keeping them away from the active work of the entrepreneurship. The year 1975 was declared ‘International Year for Women’. During the decade several governmental and voluntary agencies carried out symposia, conferences and workshops to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship for women.

CONCEPT OF WOMEN AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

Women entrepreneur may be defined as a women or a group of women who innovates imitates for adopts an economic activity. In other words, any women or a group of women who initiate organize and operate a business enterprise.

According to the Government of India, a woman entrepreneur is defined as, “an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman and enterprise owned and controlled by a woman and having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the employment generated in the enterprises to women”, however, this definition is subject to criticism mainly on the condition of employing more than 50 percent women workers in the enterprises owned and run by the women. Just as entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs are those women who generate business ideas or select the best opportunity, mobilizes resources, combine the factors of production, undertake risk and operate the enterprise in the most effectiveness with a new to earn profit.

Women Entrepreneur’ is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal needs and become economically independent. A strong desire to do something positive is an inbuilt quality of entrepreneurial women, who is capable of contributing values in both family and social life. With the advent of media, women are aware of their own traits, rights and also the work situations. The glass ceilings are shattered and women are found indulged in every line of business from pappad to power cables. The challenges and opportunities provided to the women of digital era are growing rapidly that the job seekers are turning into job creators. They are flourishing as designers, interior decorators, exporters, publishers, garment manufacturers


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and still exploring new avenues of economic participation. In India, although women constitute the majority of the total population, the entrepreneurial world is still a male dominated one.

Women Entrepreneurs have been making a significant impact in all segments of economy of the world. Their willingness for the future is apparent in their growing confidence, in their strengths and in their desire to seek different forms of work in order to achieve a new balance between work and home.

Today’s women are taking more and more professional and technical degrees to cope up with market need and are flourishing as de signers, interior decorators, exporters, publishers, garment manufacturers and still exploring new avenues of economic participation. It is perhaps for these reasons that Government Bodies, NGO’s, Social Scientists, Researchers ‘and International Agencies have started showing interest in the issues related to entrepreneurship among women in India.

Women entrepreneur’s explore the prospects of starting a new enterprise; undertake risks, introduction of new innovations, coordinate administration & control of business & providing effective leadership in all aspects of business and have proved their footage in the male dominated business arena.

In the words of Former President APJ Abdul Kalam "empowering women is a prerequisite for creating a good nation, when women are empowered, society with stability is assured. Empowerment of women is essential as their thoughts and their value systems lead to the development of a good family, good society and ultimately a good nation."

Status of Women Entrepreneurship in India

Status No. Of Units Registered No. Of Women Entrepreneurs Percentage

Tamil Nadu 9,618 2930 30.36

Uttar Pradesh 7980 3180 39.84

Punjab 4791 1618 33.77

Maharashtra 4339 1394 32.12

Madhya Pradesh 2967 842 28.38

Kerala 5487 2135 38.91

Gujrat 3872 1538 39.72

Karnataka 3822 1026 26.84

Other States 14576 4185 28.71

Total 57452 18848 32.82


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Various Loan/Schemes offered by Several Commercial Bank for the Development of Women Entrepreneurship

Name Of Bank Name Of Loan/ Scheme

Vijya Bank V Mangla

State Bank Of India Stree Shakti Package

Bank Of India Priyadarshni

Canara Bank Can Mahila

Union Bank Of India Viklang Mahila Vikas Yojna

Uco Bank Nari Shakti

Central Bank Of India Cent Kalyani

Oriental Bank Of Commerce Orient Mahila Vikas Yojna

ICICI Bank Women’s Account

Article by Prof (Dr.) Rahul Goyal & Rajiv Jain I Mangalmay Journal of Management Technology vol.no. 5,Jan-June2011

Women in India constitute around half of the country’s population. They are regarded as the “better half of the society”. In the official proclamation, they are at par with men. But in real life, the truth prevails , Our society is still male-dominated and women are not treated as equal partners both inside and outside four walls of the house. In many areas they are as abla , weak and dependent on men. Let some facts be given-

Low Literacy rate (40%), Low work participation rate (28%) and low urban population share (10%) of women as compared to 60%, 52% and 18% respectively of their male counterparts

Our old social-cultural traditions arresting the women within four walls of their houses

Low level of women (5.2%) in total self-employed persons in the country(C.B. Gupta and S.S. Khanka, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, Sultan Chand & Sons, Delhi, 1996, p. 1.10)

Women entrepreneurs in India accounted for 9.01% of the total 1.70 million entrepreneurs during 1988-89 (Vasant Desair, Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Development and Management, Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay, 1992, p. 132)

In India, women entry into business is a new phenomenon. Women entry into business or say, entrepreneurship is traced out as an extension of their kitchen activities mainly to 3 Ps, Viz., Pickles, Powder and Pappad. Women in India plunged into business for both pull and push factors, pull factors.

Pull Factors-Factors which encourage women to start an occupation or venture with an urge to do something independently.


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Push Factors- Refers to those factors which compel women to take up their own business to tide over their economic difficulties and responsibilities.

With growing awareness about business and spread of education among women over the period, women have started shifting from 3 P’s to engross to 3 modern E’s, Engineering Electronics and Energy. They have excelled in these activities.

Women entrepreneurs manufacturing solar cookers in Gujrat,

Small foundries in Maharashtra and T.V. capacitors in Orissa

Smt. Sumati MOrarji –Shipping Corporation, Smt. Yamutai Kirloskar-Mahila Udyog Limited, Smt. Neena Malhotra –Exports, and Smt. Shahnaz Hussain –Beauty Clinic are some examples of successful and accomplished women entrepreneurs in our country.

In India, Kerala is a state with highest literacy(including women literacy) reflecting congenial atmosphere for the emergence and development of women entrepreneurship in the state. According to a study (Government of Kerla: Women’s Industries Department, Trivandrum.) the number of women’s industrial units in Kerla was 358 in 1981 which rose to 782 in March 1984. These 782 units included 592 proprietary concerns, 43 partnership firms, 42 charitable institutions,03 Joint stock companies and102 co-operative societies covering a wide range of activities. The financial, marketing, and training assistance provided by the State Government also helped motivate women to assume entrepreneurial career. Like Kerala, an increasing number of women is entering the business in the State of Maharashtra also. (Dr. S.S. Khanka Entrepreneurial Development, S. Chand, Delhi,2009, p20)

PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

Women’s Problems in India- Women’s problems in India are of tradition, social-cultural values, ethics, motherhood, subordinate to husband and men, physically weak, avoids tension, hark work areas, avoids vehicle driving and cannot be tough etc., are very common and general remarks made on women. One or few of them may be applicable to an individual.

Entrepreneurial Problems in General

Procedural delays, problems and corruption in government offices for various licenses, electricity, water and shed allotments.

Raw materials price and availability are not consistent. Middlemen play a major role in creating shortage.

Competition in low technology items is too high

Financial problems due to blockage of funds in finished goods and raw materials.

Non-receipt of payments from customers is always a cause of worry.

Technology obsolescence due to non-adoption or slow adoption to changing technology

Specific entrepreneurial problems of women:

Mobility of problem to women due to the traditional values


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Inability to drive vehicles

Younger category women feel uncomfortable to deal with men due to extra interest being shown in them than the work related aspects

Family responsibilities like extra attention to husband, children and in-laws take away lots of their time and energy

Lack of support from family members

Women are provided less or inadequate education than men partly due to early marriage, partly due to preference given to son’s higher education.

Since women cannot run around for marketing, distribution and money collection, middlemen tend to exploit them in the guise of helping

In rural sector women have to depend upon men for anything they have to obtain from towns and cities

Entrepreneurship by Prof. Ravindranath V. Badi and Prof. Narayansa V. Badi published by Vrinda Publications 2011

Problem of Finance – Finance is regarded as “Life –Blood” for any enterprise, be it big or small. Women entrepreneurs suffer from shortage of finance on two counts.

Firstly, Women do not generally have property on their names to use them as collateral for obtaining funds from external sources of funds is limited.

Secondly- The banks also consider women less credit-worthy and discourage women borrowers on the belief that they can at time leave their business.

Scarcity of Raw Material: Most of the women enterprises are plagued by the scarcity of raw material and necessary inputs. Added to this are the high prices of raw material, on the one hand, and getting raw material at the minimum of discount, on the other.

The failure of many women-co-operatives in 1971 engaged in basket making is an example how the scarcity of raw material becomes the reason behind the death-knell of enterprises run by women.

Stiff Competition-Women entrepreneurs also do not have well organizational set-up, they also do not have lot of money for promotion and advertisement. They have to face a stiff competition for marketing their products with both organized sector and their male counterpart. This is resulting in the liquidation of women enterprises.

Lack of Education - In India, around three-fifths 60% of women are still illiterate. Due to the lack of education and that too qualitative education, women are not aware of business, technology and market knowledge.

Higher Cost of Production-Higher cost of production undermines the efficiency and stands in the way of development and expansion of women’s enterprises. Government assistance in the form of grant and subsidies, to some extent, enables them to tide over the difficult situations.


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Women entrepreneur also face the problems of labor, human resources, infrastructure, legal formalities, overload of work, lack of family support, mistrust etc.

Marketing Problems- Women entrepreneurs continuously face the problems in marketing their products. It is one of the core problems as this area is mainly dominated by males and even women with adequate experience fail to make a dent. For marketing the products, women entrepreneurs have to at the mercy of middlemen who pocket the chunk of profit.

Social Barriers- Women Entrepreneurs in India are always seen with suspicious eyes, particularly in rural areas, they face more social barriers. Not only this, so many castes and religions dominate with one another and hinders women entrepreneurs.

(Dr. Bhawna Bhatnagar and Ankur Budhiraja, Entrepreneurship Development and Small Business Management, Vayu Education of India, New Delhi 2009 pg130)

Another argument is that women entrepreneurs have low-level management skills. They have to depend on office staffs and intermediaries, to get things done, especially, the marketing and sales side of business. Here there is more probability for business fallacies like the intermediaries take major part of the surplus or profit. Marketing means mobility and confidence in dealing with the external world, both of which women have been discouraged from developing by social conditioning. Even when they are otherwise in control of an enterprise, they often depend on males of the family in this area. (www.indianmba.com/info/entrepreneurship/women/research)

HOW TO DEVELOP WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS?

Right efforts on from all areas are required in the development of women entrepreneurs and their greater participation in the entrepreneurial activities. Following efforts can be taken into account for effective development of women entrepreneurs.

1. Consider women as specific target group for all developmental programmes.

2. Better educational facilities and schemes should be extended to women folk from government part.

3. Adequate training programme on management skills to be provided to women community.

4. Encourage women's participation in decision-making.

5. Vocational training to be extended to women community that enables them to understand the production process and production management.

6. Skill development to be done in women's polytechnics and industrial training institutes. Skills are put to work in training-cum-production workshops.

7. Training on professional competence and leadership skill to be extended to women entrepreneurs.


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8. Training and counselling on a large scale of existing women entrepreneurs to remove psychological causes like lack of self-confidence and fear of success.

9. Counselling through the aid of committed NGOs, psychologists, managerial experts and technical personnel should be provided to existing and emerging women entrepreneurs.

10. Continuous monitoring and improvement of training programmes.

11. Activities in which women are trained should focus on their marketability and profitability.

12. Making provision of marketing and sales assistance from government part.

13. To encourage more passive women entrepreneurs the Women training programme should be organised that taught to recognize her own psychological needs and express them.

14. State finance corporations and financing institutions should permit by statute to extend purely trade related finance to women entrepreneurs.

15. Women's development corporations have to gain access to open-ended financing.

16. The financial institutions should provide more working capital assistance both for small scale venture and large scale ventures.

17. Making provision of micro credit system and enterprise credit system to the women entrepreneurs at local level.

18. Repeated gender sensitisation programmes should be held to train financiers to treat women with dignity and respect as persons in their own right.

19. Infrastructure, in the form of industrial plots and sheds, to set up industries is to be provided by state run agencies.

20. Industrial estates could also provide marketing outlets for the display and sale of products made by women.

21. A Women Entrepreneur's Guidance Cell set up to handle the various problems of women entrepreneurs all over the state.

22. District Industries Centres and Single Window Agencies should make use of assisting women in their trade and business guidance.

23. Programmes for encouraging entrepreneurship among women are to be extended at local level.

24. Training in entrepreneurial attitudes should start at the high school level through well-designed courses, which build confidence through behavioral games.

25. More governmental schemes to motivate women entrepreneurs to engage in small scale and large-scale business ventures.

26. Involvement of Non Governmental Organisations in women entrepreneurial training programmes and counselling.

Prof. Dileep Kumar M.Ex-ProfessorSymbiosis (SCMHRD, SCDL), IIIT, SCMLD,SBS Pune


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VARIOUS GOVERNMENT SCHEMES-

1. Trade related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development schemes for Women (TREAD)

With a view to encourage women in setting up their own ventures, government launched a Scheme, namely, “Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) during the 11th Plan. The scheme envisaged economic empowerment of women through the development of their entrepreneurial skills in non-farm activities. There are three major components of the scheme;

I. GOI grant upto 30% of the total project cost to the Non- Government Organisations (NGOs) for promoting entrepreneurship among women. The remaining 70% of the project cost is financed by the lending agency as loan for undertaking activities as envisaged in the project.

II. GoI grant upto Rs.1 lakh per programme to training institutions / NGOs for imparting training to the women entrepreneurs.

III. Need-based GoI grants upto Rs.5 lakh to National Entrepreneurship Development Institutions and any other institutions of repute for undertaking field surveys, research studies, evaluation studies, designing of training modules etc.

Operationalisation of the Scheme

The scheme envisages that Women Associations/NGOs/SHGs should prepare composite bankable proposals for a group of women entrepreneurs, and submitted to the bank, which are signatories to participate in the scheme, namely, Syndicate Bank, State Bank of India, Canara Bank and Allahabad Bank. A copy of the proposal submitted to the bank should be endorsed to DC (MSME). Bank examines the proposal and issues approval. On the basis of the approval proposal considered by M/o MSME and 30% of the loan amount is sanctioned as grant and made available to the bank.

2. Micro and Small enterprises Cluster Development programme (MSE-CDP)

a) Existing Clusters:

A cluster is defined as a group of enterprises, normally 20 or more producing same/similar products/services. The Cluster Development Programme (CDP) being implemented envisages diagnostic study of identified clusters of traditional skill-based MSEs to identify appropriate technologies and their providers and to facilitate adoption of available technology meeting the specific needs of the end users. The Cluster Development aims at enhanced competitiveness, technology improvement, adoption of best manufacturing practices, marketing of products, employment generation etc. The scheme provides assistance for capacity building, common facilities, marketing etc. the delivery, assimilation and diffusion of the identified technology from its producers to the recipient user/cluster of small enterprises.

Type of interventions


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I) Soft Interventions – capacity building activities in the cluster where no fixed assets is acquired or formed. Soft interventions, inter alia, include

i. Diagnostic study

ii. Forming association-Trust building & Developing Identity

iii. Capacity building,

iv. Organising workshops, seminars,

v. Training & Exposure visits,

vi. Market development,

vii. Launch of Website,

viii. Common procurement,

ix. Common/complementary sales and branding;

In the past depending upon the type of cluster, assistance available for soft interventions has varied in the range of Rs.25 – 35 lakh per cluster. Currently we have an internal ceiling of Rs.10 lakh for soft intervention under this Scheme, which we are trying to bring upwards. Clusters of women’s enterprises are entitled up to 90% assistance for soft interventions.

II) Hard Interventions – These are tangible “assets” like

i. Setting up of Common Facility Centre (CFCs),

ii. Mini Tool Rooms,

iii. Design Centres,

iv. Testing Facilities,

v. Training Centre,

vi. R&D Centres,

vii. Common Raw Material Bank/Sales depot, etc.

There can be other tangible assets that could be set up by the women’s Clusters, as long as they are put to common use. For hard interventions, it is necessary to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which could be a registered society, or a cooperative society, or company, or a trust or any other legal entity — in which at least 20 to 30 members of the Cluster contribute and participate. Other Cluster members who do not join this SPV could also sign up as Users.

The Common Facility Centre that is set up by the SPV as a hard intervention is entitled to the highest level of assistance from the MSME Ministry i.e. upto 90% of the Project Cost. This covers the cost of machinery, plant, equipment, laboratory and other tangible assets. The balance 10% of the project cost would have to be contributed by the SPV or by the State government or the Local government. But land and building are not covered under this “Project Cost” and will have to be provided by the SPVs of the Women’s Enterprises Clusters or by the State government or by some other agency.


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III) Infrastructure Assistance

Infrastructure assistance includes the construction of basic amenities like power, approach roads, drainage, water supply and storage and the like. MSME Ministry’s assistance for this component is presently limited to 40% of the total cost — though we are trying to increase this level.

Only one element of Infrastructure Assistance i.e. Display or Exhibition Centres (which could consist of show-rooms with attached stores) are entitled to a higher level of assistance in so far as Women’s Clusters are concerned, i.e. 90%. This Display/Exhibition Centre could be built by the Women’s Clusters, SPV within the Cluster, or near the Cluster or even in adjoining Markets of Towns — as long as they exhibit and market the products manufactured by the Women’s Clusters.

b) Creation of physical infrastructure:

This Ministry implemented the IID Scheme to provide developed sites with infrastructural facilities like power distribution network, water, telecommunications, drainage and pollution control facilities, roads, exhibition/display centres, raw materials, storage and marketing outlets, common service facilities and technological back-up services, etc. This scheme has been subsumed in the MSME-Cluster Development Programme.

All the features of IID Scheme have been retained. To create physical infrastructure exclusively for women enterprises central grant of 40% of the project cost subject to a maximum of Rs.2 crore is available. The Ministry of MSME is making efforts to enhance the quantum of grant to 80% in a project of Rs.10 crore.


i) A Cluster Development Executive (CDL) is required for executing and monitoring all soft interventions in a cluster. Normally, a CDE can be a DIC Officer/MSME-DI officer/retired expert or even hired person from Non-Government Sector.

ii) The hard interventions in a cluster and creation of physical infrastructure require to set up a users body/special purpose vehicle which could be society/trust/company to be formed by the cluster beneficiaries.

3. Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme

The Government introduced the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Small Industries in May, 2000 with the objective of making available credit to SSI units, particularly tiny units, for loans up to Rs. 25 lakh without collateral/ third party guarantees. The Scheme is being operated by the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Small Industries (CGTSI) set up jointly by the Government of India and SIDBI. The Scheme provides for collateral free credit facility (term loan and / or working capital) extended by eligible lending institutions to new and existing SSI units/ Small Scale Service and Business (industry related) Enterprises (SSSBEs) including Information Technology and Software Industry up to Rs. 25 lakh per borrowing unit. In the case of women enterprises, the guarantee cover is up to 80% of the credit subject to maximum guarantee limit of Rs. 20 lakh. The member lending institutions (MLI) availing of guarantee from the Trust have


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to pay a one-time guarantee fee of 1.5% of the credit facility (comprising term loan and / or working capital) sanctioned by the lending institution to the borrower and annual service fee of 0.75% per annum on the amount of credit facility extended by the MLI, which is covered under the scheme.


The entrepreneurs whose bank finance is approved by the lending bank may ask the bank to obtain guarantee from the Credit Guarantee Trust Fund. This facility is available online to the lending banks and clearance from the Trust is conveyed in a day or two.

4. Support for Entrepreneurial and Managerial Developmet

MSME DIs regularly conduct EDPs/MDPs for existing and prospective entrepreneurs and charge fee for such courses. To encourage more entrepreneurs from among the SC/ST, women and physically challenged groups, it is proposed that such beneficiaries will not be charged any fees but, instead paid a stipend of Rs.500/- per capita per month. 50,000 entrepreneurs will be trained in IT, Fashion Technology, Catering, Agro & Food Processing, Pharmaceutical, biotechnology etc. through specialized courses run by MSME DIs. 20% of courses conducted by these Institutions shall be exclusively for women.

5. Exhibitions for Women under Promotional Package for Micro and Small Entreproises approved by CCEA under Marketing Support

DC (MSME) has formulated a scheme for women entrepreneurs to encourage Small & Micro manufacturing units owned by women in their efforts at tapping and developing overseas markets, to increase participation of representatives of small/micro manufacturing enterprises under SIDO stall at International Trade Fairs/Exhibitions, to enhance export from such units. Under this scheme participation of women entrepreneurs in 25 international exhibitions is envisaged during the 11th Plan.

For the year 2007-08 a good number of prominent women entrepreneur associations have been requested to sponsor their members for participation in 5 international exhibitions scheduled during the months of Jan.-March, 2008. An advertisement has also been released in this regard in daily newspaper.

You will be happy to know that with a view to encourage women entrepreneurs to participate in the International Exhibitions it has been decided to:

i) provide rent free space in the exhibitions

ii) reimburse 100% economy class air fare for one representative

iii) reimburse shipping cost upto Rs.15,000/-

The overall ceiling shall however be Rs. 1.25 lac.

6. Mahila Vikas Nidhi- During the period 1990-2001, a cumulative assistance of Rs 80.4 million has been sanctioned under MVN to 155 NGOs/agencies to provide training and employment opportunities to women in rural areas by facilitating the creation suitable infrastructural facilities.


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7. Micro Credit Scheme- Since the inception of the micro finance initiatives (Feb. 1994 till March31, 2001) SIDBI has sanctioned an aggregate assistance of Rs. 810.50 million to 169 MFIs benefitting over 4,42000 poor, mostly women.

CONCLUSION

India is a male dominated society and women are assumed to be economically as well as socially dependent on male members. The absolute dependence seems to be diluted among the high and middle class women as they are becoming more aware of personal needs and demanding greater equality.

Women entrepreneurs faced lots of problems at start-up as well as operating stage like, non availability of finance, restricted mobility freedom and having to perform dual role one at home and other at work. Technological advancement and information technology explosion have reduced the problem of women entrepreneurs. Along with technological revolution, mental revolution of society is needed to change the attitude of the society and provide women with democratic and entrepreneurial platform

More-over with increasing Government and Non-Government and other financial institutions assistance for various women entrepreneurs within the economy there can be significant increase brought about in the growth of women entrepreneurship process. Still efforts are being made to coordinate with the enterprise activities of women and providing them utmost financial, morale, psychological support by various institutions working within the economy and world-wide.

Thus, Women have the potential and the determination to set up, uphold and supervise their own enterprises in a very systematic manner. Appropriate support and encouragement from the Society in general and family members in particular is required to help these women scale new heights in their business ventures. The right kind of assistance from family, society and Government can make these Women Entrepreneurs a part of the mainstream of national economy and they can contribute to the economic progress of India.

References

1. Dhameja S K (2002), Women Entrepreneurs: Opportunities, performance, problems, Deep publications (p) Ltd, New Delhi, p 11

2. Dynamics of entrepreneurial development and management – By Vasant Desai. Himalaya Publishing House.

3. Entrepreneurship Development –By S.S Khanka. S. Chand & Company Limited. (Ram Nagar, New Delhi-110055).

4. Indian Entrepreneurship Internet related search topics- Danish Agency for Trade and Industry October 2000, Electronic edition by Schultz Grafisk A/S.

5. Rajendran N (2003), "Problems and prospects of women Entrepreneurs" SEDME, Vol. 30 no.4 Dec.

6. Rao Padala Shanmukha (2007) "Entrepreneurship Development among Women: A case study of self help Groups in Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh" The Icfai Journal of Entrepreneurship Development Vol.1V No. 1


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7. Sharma Sheetal (2006) “Educated Women, powered, women" Yojana Vol.50, No.12

8. Shiralashetti A S and Hugar S S " Problem and Prospects of Women Entrepreneurs In North Karnataka District: A case study" The Icfai Journal of Entrepreneurship Development Vol.1v No. 2

9. Shodh, Samiksha and Mulyankan (International Research Journal—ISSN-0974-2832 Vol. II, Issue-9-10 (Oct.-Nov.-2009) Women Entrepreneurship in India (Problems, Solutions & Future Prospects of Development) * Dr. Sunil Deshpande **Ms. Sunita Sethi.

10. Theory and Practice- By Dr. D.D. Sharma & Dr. S.K. Dhameja Abhishek Publications Chandigarh-17 (India)

11. Women Entrepreneurship and Economic Development – By Sanjay Tiwari, Anshuja Tiwari. Publisher: Sarup and Sons

12. http://www.weforum.org/

13. http://money.livemint.com/IID91/F132540/DirectorsReport/Company.aspx

14. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/world/asia/16ladies.html

15. http://www.articlesbase.com/entrepreneurship-articles/is-the-women-entrepreneur-empowered-inindia-3147613.html

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