As India moves ahead with a focus on self-reliance and achieving a $5 trillion economy, a report has suggested that major emphasis on women entrepreneurship and women-backed small business can create a ripple effect in India’s GDP.
The joint report by Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and Sattva said that women-owned enterprises represent only 20 per cent of all enterprises in India and hire 10 per cent of the total workforce.
“Women entrepreneurship presents a significant opportunity to strengthen employment and can create a ripple effect on India’s GDP; but the growth of women-owned businesses needs a greater push,” it said.
The study centered around Bengaluru points that there is “an urgent need to increase sales and marketing channels and make them finance ready so that they can access capital”.
While women entrepreneurs in the region face formidable challenges, the combination of new market platforms, peer-support networks, and capital will make women entrepreneurs a force to reckon with before the end of the decade, it said.
The survey found that 53 per cent of the participants had their monthly household income below Rs 50,000 and 84 per cent women entrepreneurs use personal savings for capital needs and also tend to rely on friends and family.
Around 97 per cent of the women entrepreneurs hired less than five paid employees or workers.
Further, 67 per cent entrepreneurs had been running their businesses for under five years and for all entrepreneurs, COVID has reduced their revenues by 60-80 per cent.
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