-by Jaya Pathak
It is not lacking in good intentions toward women-led enterprise by the Indian state, rather it lacks smooth implementation. The greatest mistake that the founders commit is that they consider government schemes as a poster of encouragement- something one sees, feels better, and get back to the actual business of growing the business. As a matter of fact, these plans are not embellishment. When put to good use, they can transform the cost of capital, formalisation, and, under the radar, can get a banker to pay a bit more attention to your proposal than he/she will ever pay to your pitch deck.
Top 10 Government Schemes for Women Entrepreneur:
1. Stand-Up India
Stand-Up India is another of the most recognisable credit-linked initiatives that are aimed directly at women entrepreneurs (alongside SC/ST entrepreneurs) to establish a business, though the guiding and access channels pass through the formal ecosystem of the programme. To a large number of new borrowers its actual value is not financing as such; it is the authentication its provides within the processes of the bank otherwise slow when the borrower manifest appears to be a new one.
2. Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)
PMEGP is positioned in the workmanlike center of the Indian enterprise policy: it is aimed to support new micro-enterprises by means of the bank-based project policy, which is introduced under the framework of MSME ecosystem with its portal and the involvement of KVIC. PMEGP is not usually glamorous, although it does possess a simple virtue namely that of structure to the founders who are able to convert an idea into a project plan, which the banks will process.
3. Pradhan Mantri Micro Unrestricted Depository Repository Yojana (PMMY)
This has given MUDRA popularity and it would be wrong to dismiss it easily. PMMY has been placed as a credit facility of non-corporate, non-farm micro and small enterprises and this has also been a default entry point to the formal finance (ticket-size). To women businesspeople, the applicability is easy enough to understand: the first often becomes the institutionalization of micro-credit, either informally or through institutions, and the switch is often the difference between a micro-business venture and its transformation or its failure.
4. TREAD (Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development)
TREAD tells us that it is the bottleneck of money only, but also capability and support systems. The scheme is arranged on a basis of training and counselling assistance, credit facilitation is channeled though the intermediary organisations, instead of placing the entrepreneur at the corridor where a branch manager sits. Where TREAD is successful, it instills confidence and competency as well as financing; where it is unsuccessful it tends to fail at the intermediary level, hence selection and on-ground performance are crucial.
5. Mahila Coir Yojana
Sector-centric plans can be viewed as narrow but can be more last-mile effective than general national plans. PIB has termed Mahila Coir Yojana as the women based programme that is meant to offer self employment including training and equipments depending on the design of the programme. To women in the clumps of coir, this can mean the difference between being a labour in the supply chain of someone and having a small productive property that creates an income again.
6. Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK)
RMK is a specific philosophy of support: collateral-light, access to credit to women based on inclusion, usually intermediary organisations. It situates PIB within the micro-credit and empowerment model instead of the universe of venture scale-up, with the description of RMK taking place. That difference is significant, since founders will squander time attempting to pursue a livelihood-oriented tool to satisfy an incremental-stage need.
7. Mahila E-Haat
Endless discussions about policy circles are about market linkages; Mahila E-Haat is one of the direct efforts to operationalise the term. PIB has explained Mahila E-Haat to be an online marketing service women, which is developed to assist women in business and in accessing the market. It is not to replace an actual distribution plan, but it could achieve discoverability, and sales demonstration two elements that would draw the attention of lenders and channel partners.
8. Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), NITI Aayog
The ecosystem platforms are usually disregarded as networking clubs until one of the founders discovers the right mentor, the right compliance assistance, or the right market connection at the right moment. PIB has defined WEP as a facilitating platform initiated by NITI Aayog and subsequently transformed into a public- Private partnership and intended to pool together services including mentoring, access to finance, market connectivity, skilling, and compliance advice. Its usefulness, at any rate among serious players, is optionality, or the possibility of solving several bottlenecks without having to create a personal network.
9. Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) in DAY-NRLM
SVEP is a valuable correction to the urban bias of entrepreneurship debate. PIB has termed SVEP as a sub-scheme introduced in DAY-NRLM, to help members of SHGs and their families establish non-farm businesses. Enterprise support, facilitated by SHGs, is also positioned by the Ministry of Rural Development as a part of the livelihoods architecture, which represents the model where entrepreneurship is created, based on community institutions, as opposed to the model of an individual hero.
10. Startup India
Startup India is typically viewed as being gender-neutral, however, governmental actions have highlighted women-specific action in the framework. PIB has identified a special allocation of the Fund of Funds towards Startups, which are headed by women. To founders who are developing high-growth companies, this is not as much of a guarantee as it is a signal – women-led businesses are not to be treated as special cases; they are meant to be fundable.
FAQs:
1) Will women be able to be enrolled in several schemes simultaneously?
Yes, it is often the case with practice but the more intelligent one asks, is there any overlap in purpose of the schemes, credit, subsidy, training, market access or is it that you are simply duplicating effort without gaining results.
2) What is more suitable, MUDRA, PMEGP, or Stand-Up India to a first-time entrepreneur?
It will rely on the requirements of a small-ticket working capital, a project-based micro-enterprise arrangement, or a structured avenue towards financing a new business in a dedicated programme channel. The entry points and operation routes of PMMY, PMEGP, and Stand-Up India are different and the founders must select according to the business stage, documentation preparation and capital requirement.
3) Are these schemes applicable to formal businesses that are urban?
No. It is explicitly designed to incorporate rural pathways (such as SVEP under DAY-NRLM) and the latter is based on SHG-linked enterprise building within the non-farm sector.
4) Do such schemes of the platform initiative as WEP and Mahila E-Haat warrant a serious founder?
They are, when employed as stimulants but not as distracters. WEP is presented as an aggregator of services made possible including mentoring and market links, whereas Mahila E-Haat is presented as an online access to the markets- all capable of enhancing credibility and lowering friction in the case of having a product ready to sell.
5) What is the biggest trap that women entrepreneurs commits using government schemes?
Pursuing a business model second, and the scheme first. The schemes above were designed on various kinds of enterprises- micro-credit and livelihood (RMK, SVEP), market access (Mahila E-Haat), and signals of growth stage startups (Startup India), and where the time quietly goes awry is mismatch.
