Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has taken various initiatives towards promotion of women entrepreneurship across the Country. However, the MSDE has not conducted any study on the challenges being faced by women entrepreneurs in the country.

In order to promote women entrepreneurship, the details of the various initiatives taken by MSDE are as under:

‘Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs and Start-ups by Women’ (WEE) project is being supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in partnership with the MSDE to improve the framework conditions for women-led enterprises in India. The project aims to pilot incubation and acceleration programmes for women micro-entrepreneurs, enabling them to start new businesses and scale up existing enterprises in the States of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and 8 North Eastern States of the country.

Under the title of ‘Her&Now’, the WEE project has also been running a film and media campaign to share the stories of successful women entrepreneurs and to foster a positive mindset change on gender roles and norms in society. Till now, over 900 women entrepreneurs have been supported under the project under both incubation and acceleration support programmes.

Entrepreneurship Development in Six Holy Cities, a project of the MSDE, aims to catalyse local entrepreneurial activities through involvement of potential & existing entrepreneurs, unemployed youth, college dropouts, youth from backward community etc. The Project is being implemented in Puri, Bodh Gaya, Kollur, Varanasi, Haridwar and Pandharpur. The total number of beneficiaries trained under the project is 7,185 out of which 4,535 were women.

MSDE implemented PM YUVA Pilot Project (from November 2019 to March 2022) towards creating an enabling ecosystem through entrepreneurship education, training, advocacy and easy access to entrepreneurship network. The scheme focuses on students/trainees and alumni coming out from skilling ecosystem {i.e. Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), Polytechnics, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs) and Jan Sikshan Sansthans (JSSs)}. The scheme was implemented in 10 States and 2 Union Territories, namely, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Kerala, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Although this programme did not specifically focus on women but conscious efforts were made to ensure substantial participation of women in the programme. The total number of beneficiaries covered under the project is 63,255, out of which 24,398 were women.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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MJPS/AK