Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: As of August 3, 2022, 17,96,408 enterprises were women-owned MSMEs out of the total 99,58,903 MSMEs registered on the Udyam portal.
Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: 18 per cent of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) registered in the country are owned by women entrepreneurs, according to government data. As of August 3, 2022, 17,96,408 enterprises were women-owned MSMEs out of the total 99,58,903 MSMEs registered on the Udyam portal, according to the data shared by the Minister of State for MSMEs Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma in the Rajya Sabha. The share of women-owned MSMEs in the total MSME count has moved up marginally from 16.6 per cent in December last year. As of December 12, 2021, 60.38 lakh MSMEs were registered on the portal.
According to the MSME Ministry’s 2021-22 annual report, out of 6.33 crore MSMEs (based on the National Sample Survey (NSS) 73rd round conducted in FY16), 6.08 crore were proprietary concerns with men owning 79.63 per cent of enterprises as compared to 20.37 per cent owned by women. Moreover, the dominance of men-owned enterprises was slightly more pronounced in urban areas (81.58 per cent) as compared to rural areas (77.76 per cent), the report said.
Meanwhile, the number of women beneficiaries across multiple government schemes had increased significantly from the pre-Covid period. According to the data shared by Verma in the Lok Sabha in July this year, the total women beneficiary count under Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) had increased 43 per cent to 39,154 in FY22 from 27,285 in FY21 and 58 per cent from 24,720 in FY20.
Similarly, under the Public Procurement Policy, which mandates a minimum 3 per cent annual procurement by government departments and public enterprises from women-led units, the number of women beneficiaries increased 180 per cent from 3,666 in FY20 to 10,287 in FY22 and 105 per cent from 5,013 beneficiaries in FY21. Also, under the Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP), women entrepreneurs supported increased to 24,734 in FY22 from 13,640 in FY21.
The estimated demand for credit by women-owned very small businesses (WVSEs) in India stood at Rs 83,600 crore, as per a report by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Intellecap – the advisory arm of impact investment firm Aavishkaar Group in March this year.
