The share of MSMEs owned by women entrepreneurs in the total MSMEs registered with the MSME Ministry has jumped. According to the data shared by the Minister of State in the MSME Ministry Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma 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 per cent of the total 3.16 crore MSMEs registered as of December 4 since the launch of the portal on July 1, 2020, post-Covid.

In comparison, the share of women-owned MSMEs in the total over 2.10 crore units registered as of August 1, 2023, was 19.43 per cent, Verma had informed the Parliament during this year’s monsoon session. The registration count included registrations from the Udyam Assist Platform (UAP) of the government launched in January this year to enable micro enterprises outside the ambit of Goods and Services Tax registration to register with the ministry for the benefit of priority sector lending.

Importantly, under the Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM), the erstwhile portal for MSME registration between September 2015 and June 2020, women MSMEs represented a 15.67 per cent share in the total UAM registrations during the period, Verma had shared the data, FE Aspire reported earlier.

Among the schemes available for women MSMEs included Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahila Coir Yojana, increased guarantee coverage of credit to 85 per cent for women entrepreneurs under CGTMSE, mandatory minimum 3 per cent annual procurement by central enterprises and ministries/departments from women-owned micro and small enterprises, etc.

In June this year, hailing the government’s initiatives towards women empowerment amid nine years of BJP government, Home Minister Amit Shah had tweeted an update on various women-focused schemes including women-led micro and small enterprises. For instance, over 27.7 crore loans issued to women entrepreneurs under the Mudra scheme, more than Rs 33,000 crore loans sanctioned under StandUp India scheme to women entrepreneurs, and Rs 15,922 crore orders delivered by more than 1.45 lakh women-owned MSMEs through the government public procurement marketplace (GeM).

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