NITI Aayog Study : India ranks 57th out of 65 countries in the world for women's entrepreneurship

Despite employing 10% of the labor force and contributing 3.09% to industrial output, India ranks 57th out of 65 countries in the world for women's entrepreneurship, with only 2.16% of women engaging in early-stage business ventures, according to Access Publications' State of Livelihood Report.

Only 14% of Indian entrepreneurs are female

Only 14% of Indian entrepreneurs are female, and of the country's 58.5 million businesses, 20% are micro, small, and medium-sized firms (MSMEs), which are managed by women.

According to a recent NITI Aayog study, more than 99% of Indian MSMEs are in the microsector. Of these, more than 99% of women-owned businesses are one-person operations, and only 17% of them employ staff members, most of whom are less than 6.

Entrepreneurship in India ranges from self-employed home-based workers to medium-sized businesses, frequently motivated by economic necessity, mobility constraints, and childcare requirements. Experts contend that biased financial institutions and the nature of their operations impede women's networking and visibility.

According to a UN Women assessment cited in the report, women's entrepreneurship is necessity-driven, concentrated in low-risk segments and fewer sectors that are not overly growth-oriented and takes advantage of the local environment, allowing them to avoid financial, regulatory, and technical constraints.

India possesses the world's third-largest startup ecosystem

Despite India possessing the world's third-largest startup ecosystem, women continue to be underrepresented, accounting for only 35% of startup employees.

Just 9% of startup founders in 2018 and 5 out of 136 unicorn founders in 2021, respectively, were startup founders.

Just 14% of tech unicorns have at least one female founder, and 90% of female entrepreneurs depend on informal funding because only 10% of them are served by formal institutions.

In India, there were 3,000 start-ups in 2014; by 2020, there were around 11,000 of them. Still, women are underrepresented From 17% in 2018 to 12% in 2019, the proportion of start-ups having at least one female founder fell.

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Merely 5 out of 136 unicorns founded in 2021 had a female founder, and just 14% of tech unicorns have a female founder at all.