President Murmu To Launch Startup Platform For Women Entrepreneurs

President Droupadi Murmu will launch a startup platform for women entrepreneurs created by Gujarat University on Tuesday. The varsity has created ‘Her Start’, a startup initiative for women entrepreneurs.

The 15th President of India is currently on a two-day visit to Gujarat. On the second day of the visit, President Murmu will also inaugurate or lay foundation stones for several projects related to education and tribal development at a function at Gujarat University.

The government has been bullish on women’s entrepreneurship in India, launching various schemes and projects to support women in India’s startup ecosystem.

According to a report by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Intellecap, India has around 15 Mn women-owned MSMEs that face challenges such as inadequate access to capital, technology and support. 

To address the gap, the government has set up the ‘Stand-Up India’ scheme to support underrepresented social groups within India’s startup ecosystem, including women and SC/ST entrepreneurs. 

According to figures from the scheme, the government has sanctioned loans worth around INR INR 24,809.89 Cr to 1,08,250 women entrepreneurs in FY22.

At the same time, multiple states and UTs have also announced financial support for women entrepreneurs as well.

In June, the Maharashtra government set up an INR 200 Cr women-focussed fund to support deeptech startups led by women. 

In August this year, reports emerged that the UP government was also looking to amend its MSME policy to boost women entrepreneurship in the state. The UP government also launched Mission Shakti, aimed at churning out 75,000 women entrepreneurs.

The gender gap in India’s startup ecosystem is still vast. According to Inc42 analysis, only 17% of India’s unicorns have women as founders. Further, only around 15% of startups in India have more than 50% of women employees. 

The glass ceiling is apparent when it comes to the general startup ecosystem; there’s little room for women at the top, which suggests that even though the government has pushed for gender equality in policy and speech, there is little to show for it.

According to an Inc42 report, women-led startups have raised $11 Bn across 785 deals between 2014 and H1 2022. When compared with the overall funding in Indian startups during that time, women-led startups accounted for 8% of the $131 Bn raised. 

Ecommerce was the sector with the highest number of funded startups with women cofounders, per Inc42 data.

While there has been a 58% five-year CAGR rise in funding in women-led startups between 2016 and 2021, the gap is still enormous.