Women Entrepreneurs now form 37% of the MSMEs Registered on Udyam

The proportion of MSMEs owned by female entrepreneurs in the overall number registered with the MSME Ministry has increased. According to data shared by Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Minister of State in the MSME Ministry, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday, the number of women-owned MSMEs registered on the government's Udyam portal stood at 1.17 crore - 37.13 percent of the total 3.16 crore MSMEs registered as of December 4 since the portal's launch on July 1, 2020, post-Covid.

In comparison, Verma informed the Parliament during this year's monsoon session that the percentage of women-owned MSMEs in the total over 2.10 crore units registered as of August 1, 2023, was 19.43 percent. Registrations from the government's Udyam Assist Platform (UAP), created in January this year to allow micro firms outside the scope of Goods and Services Tax registration to register with the ministry for the benefit of priority sector lending, were included in the registration count.

West Bengal led the way with 18.13 lakh registered units, followed by Maharashtra (13.38 lakh registered units), Tamil Nadu (9.90 lakh registrations), Bihar (8.82 lakh registrations), and others.

Importantly, between September 2015 and June 2020, under the Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM), the former gateway for MSME registration, women MSMEs comprised a 15.67% share of total UAM registrations, Verma had revealed the statistics, FE Aspire reported earlier. Among the schemes available for women MSMEs were the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), the Mahila Coir Yojana, increased credit guarantee coverage of up to 85% for women entrepreneurs under CGTMSE, mandatory minimum 3% annual procurement from women-owned micro and small enterprises by central enterprises and ministries/departments, and so on.

Home Minister Amit Shah posted an update on numerous women-focused projects, including women-led micro and small companies, in June this year, complimenting the government's endeavors toward women empowerment after nine years of BJP rule. For example, more than Rs 27.7 crore loans were issued to women entrepreneurs under the Mudra scheme, more than Rs 33,000 crore loans were sanctioned to women entrepreneurs under the StandUp India scheme, and more than 1.45 lakh women-owned MSMEs delivered Rs 15,922 crore orders through the government public procurement marketplace (GeM).