“FUTURE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA ARE WOMEN”

DR. APARNA SANJAY GER

ABSTRACT
Since time immemorial, the society was dominated by males but in contemporary times, women
are breaking the trend and coming out of the shadows in an all-powerful avatar. Women from all
around the globe are overcoming the negative notions the society has about them. The winds of
change also showed its effect in the Indian corporate world, few are leading top ventures and
ideas. Making nation feels proud and being influential to other women of India and globe.

Albert Einstein famously said that the woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further
than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has been
ever before. Confidence, determination, creativity, discipline, work ethic, spirit, passion an
entrepreneur should have all these qualities. Just positive belief and confidence could lead you to
a remarkable journey. Indian women have come a long way from being just a homemaker to
business, inventions, and leading new ideas. When women are given opportunities to learn and
innovate, they blossom and take charge of their lives. Participation of women in income
generating activities is must to eradicate poverty in the country. In my study paper, I've made an
effort to shed light on the female business owners who, via their job, have altered both their
world and our economy.

INTRODUCTION:
Entrepreneurs are considered the building blocks of economic growth and advancement.
“Entrepreneurship is essential for increasing production, utilizing materials and employing
human resources and improving the problem of unemployment. The basic objective of
developing entrepreneurship is to enable the society to generate productive human resources as
well as mobilize and sustain them for the subsequent process of development.” (Begam, 2006)

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In the words of Former President Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam,” Empowering women is a prerequisite
for creating a good nation, when women are empowered, society with stability is assured.
Empowerment of women are essential as their thoughts and their value systems lead to the
development of a good family, good society and ultimately a good nation.”

On writing about women entrepreneurs I would like to give some examples of women
entrepreneurs those who are successful and happy. These female entrepreneurs are founders /Co-
Founders in India’s leading funded startups. To highlight and promote such Indian women
entrepreneurs, I have created a list of female entrepreneurs in India who have raised funding
(Seed, Angel, Series A, Series B) from Jan 2018 and till 10th April 2019. All these women
entrepreneurs are brilliant with their work and Indian startup ecosystem is proud of such
entrepreneurs. They are listed below (not in any specific order).

The following section will shed some light on the most influential women entrepreneurs in
India. Let’s have a look now. Here are Women Entrepreneurs in India to celebrate:

1. Isha Choudhry, Co-Founder ZoloStay

Funding: Last round – Series B, Total funding – $35 million +
Lead Investors: IDFC Private Equity, InnoVen Capital, Mirae Asset Global Investments, Nexus
Venture Partners. Zolo provides fully managed co-living spaces. Valued at more than $100 mn,
we are India’s fastest moving technology startup in the co-living spaces. Currently present in 10
cities – Bangalore, Coimbatore, Pune, Kota, Noida, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai
and fast expanding to other geographies. Serving approximately 16000-20000 customers daily.

2. Amrita Sirohia – Co-Founder INDWealth

3. Pratiksha Dake – Co-Founders INDWealth
Funding: Last round – Seed, Total funding – $30 million
Lead Investors: Stead view Capital
IND Wealth is a full stack personal finance platform that aims to provide solutions to investors
ranging from wealth management, investments, micro-savings, taxation, lending, expense
management, and portfolio management.

4. Gita Ramanan, Co-Founder – Design Cafe

Funding: Last round – Series B

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Lead Investors: Fireside Ventures, Sprout Capital, West Bridge Capital
Design Cafe has designed and built almost 1000 homes across the country.
Design Cafe is poised to become the most recognized and trusted brand for home interiors in
India and is expanding across the country.
5. Sayli Karanjkar – Co-Founders – Pay Sense
Funding: Last round – Series B ( $18 million )
Lead Investors: Jungle Ventures, Naspers, Nexus Venture Partners, PayU, rocketship.vc
PaySense is a consumer lending platform that gives users credit in a customised manner.
PaySense EMI, their personalised line of credit, is similar to a personal loan and can be used to
make instant purchases, whether online or offline, through affordable EMI plans. The upper limit
of credit disbursed is Rs 2 lakh, which will soon be increased to Rs 5 lakh.

6. Sunita Sahney – Founder- Finova Capital

Funding: Last round – Series B $15 million
Lead Investors: Faering Capital, Sequoia Capital India
Finova Capital provides mid-ticket loans to MSMEs by giving them access to formal credit. The
average ticket size on the platform ranges from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh for a time period of seven
years.

7. Meghna Agarwal – C0- Founder- IndiQube

Funding: Last round – Series A – $15 million

Lead Investors: Ashish Gupta, WestBridge Capital
IndiQube is a leading provider of coworking, shared and dedicated office spaces in Bangalore
and Pune.
8. Aditi Balbir – Founder- V Resorts
Funding: Last round – Series A – $10 million
Lead Investors: Bedrock Ventures, RB Investments Pte. Ltd., Seedfund
V Resorts is an alternate accommodation provider in the leisure travel space. We manage and
operate resorts, hotels, camps, houseboats etc.

9. Sonal Verma – Founder- GlowRoad

Funding: Last round – Series A – $14 million
Lead Investors: Accel, CDH Investments, RB Investments Pte. Ltd.

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GlowRoad is world’s largest reseller network of 200,000+ resellers selling across 1000+ cities
and earning money online.

10. Sundari Rangarajan – Co-Founder – Colive.in

Funding: Last round – Series A – $9.2 million
Lead Investors: Ncubate Capital Partners, Salarpuria Sattva Group
A technology powered network of Branded Serviced Homes conveniently located near
educational institutions & workplaces.

11. Shivani Poddar – Founder- FabAlley

12. Tanvi Malik – Co-Founder- FabAlley
Funding: Last round – Series A – $8.54 million
Lead Investors: India Quotient, Indian Angel Network, Nitin Jain, SAIF Partners, Trifecta
Capital Advisors FabAlley is the ultimate Indian fashion destination for fashion-forward, indie-
chic girls. Founded in 2012, Tanvi Malik and Shivani Poddar.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Everett H.E. Hagen (1962) attempted to study the origin of entrepreneurs in many countries. He
noted that the entrepreneurs have emerged mainly from a particular socio-economic class.
Further, in the Indian context, the leading business communities like Parsis, Marvaris and
Sindhees have been found to have a deep desire in engaging in industrial activities.
Selvaraj, “Entrepreneurship the Need of the Day” (1998) emphasized the need for the
development of entrepreneurship in rural areas, as it will bridge the required disparities between
the rural and less developed regions. Migration has become a major problem in our country. If
the potential migrates are engaged in entrepreneurial activity, this can be minimized and the
problem of urbanization can be eliminated.
Bhatia and Batra, 2003, Development of business gives women freedom of choice, autonomy,
confidence and self-fulfillment within the constraints of her culture, relationship and family
responsibilities. Women hold positive attitude towards sharing ownership to encourage growth.
Suresh Reddy, (2004) in his Entrepreneurship-concept and Development” (2004) clearly
pointed out that the concept of entrepreneur is that a person through his composite skill can
exploit possibilities in a given situation to the extent, with the available resources.

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Entrepreneurship development is to develop and strengthen entrepreneurial ability in those who
really wants to make bold steps.
Arunthati Chattopadhya (2005) emphasized that economic empowerment is elevating the
status of women in our society. One possible towards achieving this end could be through
entrepreneurship development.
K.Lavanya Latha (2006) suggested that the hard work, self confidence, self determination,
personality traits availability of timely financial support were the important factor for success of
women entrepreneurs.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To Emphasis the role of a woman as an entrepreneur in the development of the Indian

economy.

2. To find out various problems faced by women entrepreneurs and how do they deal with stress
management.

3. To study the role of a women Entrepreneur on reducing unemployment in country like India.

4. To Review the government policy and various Schemes of the government for women
entrepreneurs in India.

SOURCES OF DATA:

For the study, the data has been from secondary sources includes reference to a number of books,
journals, magazines, newspapers, periodicals, websites etc.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

In the field of entrepreneurship women entrepreneurs are taking active part and playing a vital
role in this society. The government of India has defined Women Entrepreneurs as-an enterprise
owned and controlled by women having a minimum financial interest of 51 percent of the capital
and giving at least 51 percent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women. The
government is putting efforts in order to encourage female entrepreneurship in the country but
many women are unaware of various schemes to promote their business. Therefore it is
necessary to know the obstacles of women entrepreneurship and proper measures needs to be
taken to remove various obstacles, so that participation and contribution of women entrepreneurs
to national economy be increased.

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SCHEMES FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA:

Women Entrepreneurs can be seen everywhere in the startup-up ecosystem of India. Women too
are seen leaving their high-profile jobs as well as some stepping out of the four walls of their
homes and joining the pool of Entrepreneurship in India. The major factor to jumpstart the
entrepreneurial journey is capital and various banks offer specialized loans for women
entrepreneurs that have slightly different and more flexible set of terms and conditions pertaining
to collateral security, interest rates, etc. Here is a list of various schemes and loans exclusively
for women that aim at promoting and easing out the process for them –
1.Annapurna Scheme
This scheme is offered by the State Bank of Mysore for those women entrepreneurs who are
setting up food catering industry in order to sell packed meals, snacks, etc. The amount granted
as a loan under this scheme can be used to fulfill the working capital needs of the business like
buying utensils and other kitchen tools and equipment. Under this loan, a guarantor is required
along with the assets of the business being pledged as collateral security. Further, the maximum
amount of money that is granted is ₹50,000 which has to re-paid in monthly installments for 36
months, however, after the loan is sanctioned, the lender doesn’t have to pay the EMI for the first
month. The interest rate is determined depending upon the market rate.
2.Stree Shakti Package For Women Entrepreneurs
This scheme is offered by most of the SBI branches to women who have 50% share in the
ownership of a firm or business and have taken part in the state agencies run Entrepreneurship
Development Programmes (EDP). The scheme also offers a discounted rate of interest by 0.50%
in case the amount of loan is more than ₹2 Lakhs.
3.Bharatiya Mahila Bank Business Loan
This loan is a support system for budding women entrepreneurs looking to start new ventures in
the fields of the retail sector, loan against property, MICRO loans, and SME loans. The
maximum loan amount under this loan goes up to ₹20 crores in case of manufacturing industries
and also a concession is available to the extent of 0.25% on the interest rate and interest rates
usually range from 10.15% and higher. Additionally, under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for
Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), there is no requirement of collateral security for a loan
of up to ₹1 crore.

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4.Dena Shakti Scheme
This scheme is provided by Dena bank to those women entrepreneurs in the fields of agriculture,
manufacturing, micro-credit, retail stores, or small enterprises; who are in need of financial
assistance. The interest rate is also decreased by 0.25% along with the maximum loan amount
being ₹20 lakhs for retail trade; education and housing whereas ₹50,000 under the microcredit.

5.Udyogini Scheme
This scheme is offered by Punjab and Sind Bank so as to provide women entrepreneurs involved
in Agriculture, retail and small business enterprises to get loans for business at flexible terms and
concessional interest rates. The maximum amount of loan under this scheme for women between
the age bracket of 18-45 years is ₹1 lakhs but your family income is also taken into consideration
and is set at ₹45,000 per annum for SC/ST women.

6.Cent Kalyani Scheme

This scheme is offered by the Central Bank of India with the aim of supporting women in
starting a new venture or expanding or modifying an existing enterprise. This loan can be availed
by women who are involved in village and cottage industries, micro, small and medium
enterprises, self-employed women, agriculture and allied activities, retail trade, and government-
sponsored programs. This scheme requires no collateral security or guarantor and charges no
processing fees. And the maximum amount that can be granted under the scheme is Rs. 100
lakhs.

7.Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme

This scheme is launched by Punjab National Bank and aims at supporting the women
entrepreneurs involved in the small scale industries by granting them soft loans that can be
repaid over a period of 10 years. Under this scheme there are different plans for beauty parlors,
day care centres, purchase of auto rickshaws, two-wheelers, cars, etc. the maximum amount
granted under this scheme is ₹10 Lakhs and the interest depends upon the market rates.
8.Mudra Yojana Scheme For Women
This scheme has been launched by the Govt. of India for individual women wanting to start
small new enterprises and businesses like beauty parlors, tailoring units, tuition centres, etc. as

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well as a group of women wanting to start a venture together. The loan doesn’t require any
collateral security and can be availed as per 3 schemes –
i. Shishu – loan amount is limited to ₹50,000 and can be availed by those businesses that are in
their initial stages
ii. Kishor – loan amount ranges between ₹50,000 and ₹5 lakhs and can be availed by those who
have a well-established enterprise.
iii. Tarun – loan amount is ₹10 lakhs and can be availed by those businesses that are well
established but require further funds for the purpose of expansion
If the loan is granted, a Mudra card will be given to you which functions the same way as a
credit card however the funds available are limited to 10% of the loan amount granted to you.

9.Orient Mahila Vikas Yojana Scheme

This scheme is provided by Oriental Bank of Commerce to those women who hold a 51% share
capital individually or jointly in a proprietary concern. No collateral security is required for loans
of ₹10 lakhs up to ₹25 lakhs in case of small-scale industries and the period of repayment is 7
years. A concession on the interest rate of up to 2% is given.

REFERENCES:

1) Hagen, Everett, E, On the theory of social Change’ Doresen press, Homewood, 1962.

2) Selvaraj, P. “Entrepreneurship, the Need of the Day third concept, July 2003.

3) Bhatia, B. S. & Batra, G.S. (2003), Entrepreneurship and small business Management, New
Delhi: Deep and Deep publishers Pvt.Ltd.

4) Suresh Reddy, J Entrepreneurship concept and development third concept, January 2006.

5) Arunthati Chattopadhya, “Women Entrepreneurship “, Jojana, vol.49, 2005.

6) K. Lavanya Latha, “ A study on service enterprises” , The PRP Journal of Human Rights, Vol.
10, no. 2, April – June 2006.