Empowering Women Entrepreneurs: Udyam Portal Witnesses Remarkable Rise with 37.13% Women-Owned MSMEs Among 3.16 Crore Registered Units
12-12-2023 : The proportion of women-owned Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) within the overall MSME landscape registered on the government’s Udyam portal has witnessed a significant surge, reaching 37.13%. Minister of State in the MSME Ministry, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, revealed this data in response to a written query in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The information indicates that out of the total 3.16 crore MSMEs registered since the portal’s launch on July 1, 2020, post-Covid, 1.17 crore are owned by women entrepreneurs.
This marks a noteworthy increase from the 19.43% share of women-owned MSMEs among the over 2.10 crore units registered as of August 1, 2023. The data was previously communicated by Verma during the monsoon session of Parliament. The surge in women-MSME registrations is attributed to the Udyam Assist Platform (UAP), launched by the government in January, enabling micro-enterprises exempt from Goods and Services Tax registration to register with the ministry for priority sector lending benefits.
Several states are leading in women-MSME registrations, with West Bengal topping the list with 18.13 lakh registered units, followed by Maharashtra (13.38 lakh), Tamil Nadu (9.90 lakh), and Bihar (8.82 lakh). Notably, under the earlier Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM) portal for MSME registration (September 2015 to June 2020), women-owned MSMEs represented a 15.67% share in total UAM registrations during that period.
Various government schemes support women-owned MSMEs, including the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mahila Coir Yojana, an increased guarantee coverage of credit to 85% for women entrepreneurs under CGTMSE, and a mandatory minimum 3% annual procurement by central enterprises and ministries/departments from women-owned micro and small enterprises.
Home Minister Amit Shah highlighted the government’s efforts toward women’s empowerment, showcasing achievements such as over 27.7 crore loans issued to women entrepreneurs under the Mudra scheme, more than Rs 33,000 crore sanctioned under the StandUp India scheme, and Rs 15,922 crore worth of orders delivered by over 1.45 lakh women-owned MSMEs through the government public procurement marketplace (GeM).
