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LEAD’s Udyogini initiative aims to create a curated platform to share lessons and findings from our work on women entrepreneurship, with the intent of building evidence to inform policies and accelerate growth.
Total Enterprises
GDP contribution of MSMEs
Export contribution of MSMEs
Jobs created by MSMEs
The sector’s contribution to GDP and global export market is borne by a small portion of registered (30%) and large-scale enterprises but this contribution has remained unchanged over time.
Moreover, out of the total 63 million enterprises, over 98% are run by solopreneurs and ~70% of the enterprises remain informal and unregistered.
MSME’s Export and GDP Contribution (%)
The sector’s contribution to GDP and global export market is borne by a small portion of registered (30%) and large-scale enterprises but this contribution has remained unchanged over time.
Moreover, out of the total 63 million enterprises, over 98% are run by solopreneurs and ~70% of the enterprises remain informal and unregistered.
The disparity is starker for women in business
Just
1 in 5
entrepreneurs are women.
and 65.3% of them are ‘homepreneurs’ – running businesses out of their own homes, further invisibilising their contribution and voice in India’s entrepreneurship narrative.
40.3%
20.7%
7.1%
5.6%
5.4%
5.3%
2.9%
2.2%
1.6%
1.0%
8.0%
Apparel
Retail
Personal Services*
Education
Restaurant
Tobacco
Food
Human Health
Other Manufacturing^
Wood
Others
7.5%
26.2%
4.8%
2.8%
8.8%
0.3%
5.6%
3.1%
1.4%
1.7%
38.0%
Footnote: .
*Includes Salon, Laundry, Housekeeping Services etc.
^Includes jewellery and imitation jewellery manufacturing, musical instruments, sports goods, toys etc.
1. Formative evaluation of one-year pilots
2. Linking women-led enterprises with opportunities: the promise of E-commerce
3. Understanding the market landscape and enterprise
Exploring research ideas for households and small businesses- Conceptualising Database-Micro and Small Business
1. Testing and Scaling approaches and interventions to support gender transformative work with NRLM
Insights-driven Future of Women Entrepreneurship
LEAD’s Udyogini initiative aims to create a curated platform to share lessons and findings from our work on women entrepreneurship, with the intent of building evidence to inform policies and accelerate growth.
The sector’s contribution to GDP and global export market is borne by a small portion of registered (30%) and large-scale enterprises but this contribution has remained unchanged over time.
Moreover, out of the total 63 million enterprises, over 98% are run by solopreneurs and ~70% of the enterprises remain informal and unregistered.
The disparity is starker for women in business
Just
1 in 5
entrepreneurs are women.
and 65.3% of them are ‘homepreneurs’ – running businesses out of their own homes, further invisibilising their contribution and voice in India’s entrepreneurship narrative.
40.2%
20.7%
7.9%
7.1%
5.5%
5.4%
5.2%
5.2%
2.8%
1.5%
1%
Apparel
Retail
Personal Services*
Education
Restaurant
Tobacco
Food
Human Health
Other Manufacturing^
Wood
Others
7.5%
26.2%
4.8%
2.8%
8.8%
0.3%
5.6%
3.1%
1.4%
1.7%
38.0%
Footnote: .
*Includes Salon, Laundry, Housekeeping Services etc.
^Includes jewellery and imitation jewellery manufacturing, musical instruments, sports goods, toys etc.
Women-led businesses currently contribute to only 3% of the total industrial output and are an untapped economic opportunity. Increasing their presence in productive sectors can lead to exponential economic gains (IFC 2017).
Currently women-led businesses provide employment to 27 million workers. An uptick in women entrepreneurship is well-positioned to drive significant improvement in job creation.
1. Formative evaluation of one-year pilots
2. Linking women-led enterprises with opportunities: the promise of E-commerce
3. Understanding the market landscape and enterprise
Exploring research ideas for households and small businesses- Conceptualising Database-Micro and Small Business
1. Testing and Scaling approaches and interventions to support gender transformative work with NRLM
2. The harm Covid is causing women entrepreneurs