Women entrepreneurs looking for bright future in India

NEW DELHI

Even as a leading grant-making organization has predicted a growth of 90% in women entrepreneurship in India over five years, the pandemic has forced many women to divert their services to the digital medium.

Speaking to the Anadolu agency coinciding with the Women's Entrepreneurship Day on Friday, Rajni Aggarwal, president of Federation of Indian Women Entrepreneurs urged more support from the government as more women are becoming entrepreneurs.

A joint report by Google and Bain & Company, a Boston-based consulting firm, in 2019 had estimated that 13.5-15.7 million enterprises owned by women represent 20% of all businesses.

Earlier Sixth Economic Census conducted in 2013-14 financial year had reported the existence of 13.76% women-owned enterprises in India.

"The pandemic has also brought misery to women entrepreneurs as well. There have been financial problems and many of the women entrepreneurs have even closed their units. Due to pandemic, the situation has been difficult, so the government should come to pay more attention to women entrepreneurs," said Aggarwal, also a woman entrepreneur.

EdelGive Foundation, one of India’s leading grant-making organizations earlier this year in a study report had predicted a 90% growth in women entrepreneurs in five years in India, in comparison to similar businesses in the US and UK.

The government should provide more support to the women entrepreneurs in India as they are looking for a "bright future" in the coming years, experts say.

According to Aggarwal, while has government has come up with measures, they are not sufficient.

"We were thinking that the government will give interest-free loans for some time, and they will continue for at least three years," she said.

"The government is ready to give more money, but people are very afraid because they know about the market situation and they don't want to take further risks by taking more loans and repaying them,” she added.

With pandemics putting a halt to major businesses, many have diverted their services to the digital medium.

"The online services have gone up. Many women have shifted work to online...since women are capable and there is a lot of growth prospects in the online medium as well," Ranbir Rathi, a woman entrepreneur based in New Delhi told Anadolu Agency.

Aggarwal, however, said the pandemic has allowed rethinking and innovating something new.

“So many women have gone out of what they were doing and they have started something new which can be done online," she said.

About the future growth of women entrepreneurs in India, Aggarwal said the overall growth of women entrepreneurship is promising.

“Of late, the attitude of women has started to change, because they are opening their ventures, instead of going for jobs," said Aggarwal.

She said the growth of women entrepreneurs is expected to multiply in the coming years.