Document49

Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment: A

Contemporary Issues and Challenges

ISSN 2319-9725

M.Sangeetha

Ph.D. Scholar, Depar tment of Commerce, Periyar University

Abstract: Women Entrepreneurs plays an important role in boosting the Indian economy system. The development of the business sector may be an indicator of a predictable legal structure and a prosperous economy. Entrepreneurship development for women is an important factor in economic development of India. Women entrepreneurs in India are handicapped in the matter of organizing and running businesses on account of their generally low levels of skills and for want of support system. The transition from homemaker to sophisticated business woman is not that easy. But the trend is changing. Women across India are showing an interest to be economically independent. Women are coming forth to the business arena with ideas to start small and medium enterprises. They are willing to be inspired by role models- the experience of other women in the business arena. Micro finance is emerging as a powerful instrument for poverty alleviation, employment generation and empowerment of women folk. In India Microfinance for women is mainly group – based assuming that bringing women together in groups will be more empowering than the individual lending. Many successful women forums and organizations are trying to bring rural women together for development of women folk like Working Women’s Forum (WWF), Self-Employed Women’ s Association (SEWA), shri mahila griha udyog, Mhaswad, Maharasthra etc.

Keywords: Microfinance, Empowerment, Women Entrepreneurs.

Vol 2 Issue 5 May, 2013 www.ijirs.com

1. Introduction:

Women Entrepreneurs plays an important role in boosting the Indian economy system. The development of the business sector may be an indicator of a predictable legal structure and a prosperous economy. Microfinance is an efficient tool to fight against poverty, but also as a means of pr omoting the empowerment of the most marginalized sections of the population, especially women. Entrepreneurship is a form of human resource and entrepreneurial behavior depends on a number of factors like skill, knowledge of the enterprise, r isk taking ability, achievement motivation, exposure to mass media, trainings received, and moreover, with innovativeness of the entrepreneur. Entr epreneurial behavior can be attributed as the change in knowledge, skills and attitude of entrepreneurs in the enterprise they have taken up. Women have been star ting businesses at a higher rate than men for the last 20 years and tend to create home-based micro (less than 5 employees) and small businesses. Women will create over half of the 9.72 million new small business jobs expected to be created by 2018 and more and more are doing this from home offices across the countr y. It s a surprising statistic, especially considering that women-owned businesses only created 16 percent of total U.S. jobs that existed in 2010. Ther e is evidence of significant potential for micro-finance to enable women to challenge and change gender inequalities at all levels if there is a strategic gender focus. There have also been many important recent innovations in products and ser vices to enable women to better benefit. Nevertheless benefits cannot be assumed and even financially sustainable micro-finance if it is gender blind may seriously disempower women and increase inequality. These are ( i) official definition of microfinance, (ii) ensur ing the microfinance services, (iii) approach to subsidy, (iv) banking policies, (v) management information system and ( vi) legislation processes.

Today s women are taking more and more professional and technical degrees to cope up with market need and are flour ishing as designers, interior decorators, exporters, publishers, gar ment manufacturers and still explor ing new avenues of economic participation. It is perhaps for these reasons that Government Bodies, NGO s, Social Scientists, Researcher s „and I nternational Agencies have started showing interest in the issues related to entrepreneurship among women in I ndia. Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or group of women who initiate, organize and co-operate a business enterprise. Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum f inancial interest of 51% of the capital and giving

International Journal of Innovative Research and Studies Page 590


at least 51% of employment generated in the enterprise to women.

2. Empowerment:

Empowerment is also related to the process of internal change ( Mayoux 1998) and to the capacity and right to make decisions (Kabeer 2001). It consists of change, choice and power. It is a process of change by which individuals or groups with little or no power gain the ability to make choices that affect their lives. Explicit and adequately resourced strategies for women s empower ment from „women to gender : women's empower ment requires not only strategies targeting women but also strategies to support men in challenging gender inequality.

3. Microfinance And Women Empowerment :

Microfinance programs target women with the explicit goal of empowering them. Wher eas, other believe that investing in women s capabilities empowers them to make choices which is a valuable goal in itself but it also contributes to greater economic growth and development. Microfinance is being promoted as an entry point in the context of a wider strategy for women s economic and sociopolitical empowerment, which focuses on gender awareness. (Kessey, 2005). Ranjula Bali Swaina and Fan Yang Wallentin (September 2009) in their article „Does micr ofinance empower women? Evidence from self -help groups in India concluded that their study strongly indicate that SHG members are empowered by participating in microfinance program in the sense that they have a gr eater propensity to resist existing gender norms and culture that restrict their ability to develop and make choices. The study by Banerjee, Duflo, Glennerster and Kinnan (2009) asserted that microfinance for women has no impact on participants average monthly expenditure per capita, health, education, or their decision making in I ndia. A r ecent study by Shillabeer (2008) in Bangladesh argued that microfinance created indebtedness and led to poverty traps for poor women. The study of Sugg (2010) conducted with Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) clients showed a negative correlation between ownership of assets and length of membership with the organization. BRAC beneficiaries reported that they have to sell personal assets in order to repay their debts. In addition, in a study with Grameen Bank clients in Bangladesh, Sugg (2010) showed that 57% of female clients saw a r ise in spousal



verbal aggression since the start of their loans, and a 13% rise in both verbal and physical violence.

4. Gender Equality Of Opportunity:

Elimination of those differ ences which perpetuate unequal power and resources are ascribing lower value to women's choices. It may also be used to r efer to those more limited areas where men s choices and access to power and resources ar e limited. Gender is no longer a basis for discrimination and inequality between people. women s equal access to micro -finance and employment to be seen as a human rights issue and an integral part of any mainstream regulator y and policy framework separation of gender from poverty concer ns with explicit strategies for addressing gendered resource and power inequalities within households and communities and explicit strategies for the most disadvantaged women mainstreaming women s concerns including attention to reproductive work, vulnerability and wellbeing not as „women s projects but as integral par ts of any „economic inter vention for women and men

5. Microfinance Product:

The design of micro-finance products e.g. interest rates, repayment schedules, application procedures, loan size and purpose and savings conditions are often seen as a technical banking issue decided from above by programme staff. The main consider ation is financial self-sustainability or more rarely poverty tar geting. Very little attention has been given to empowerment questions. However, evidence indicates that women s ability to use microfinance to increase incomes and control these incomes are also affected by details of the conditions of micro-finance delivery. Current debates have been pr e-occupied with the issue of setting interest rates high enough to cover costs of service provision. It is often asserted that the actual level of interest is not of great concern to borrower s provided they are lower than those charged by moneylenders.

6. Women Entrepreneurship:

Women entrepreneur s explore the prospects of starting a new enterprise; undertake r isks,



intr oduction of new innovations, coordinate administration & control of business & providing effective leader ship in all aspects of business and have proved their footage in the male dominated business arena. Entrepreneurship amongst women is a relatively recent phenomenon, which is gradually changing with the growing sensitivity of the roles, responsibilities and economic status of women in the society in gener al and family in particular. At the same time, it is also recognized that their challenges are immense and complex. For women entrepreneurs, starting and operating a business involves considerable risks and difficulties, because in the I ndian social environment women has always lived as subordinate to men. There have been noticeable changes in the socio-psycho-cultural and economic norms of our society due to liberalized policy of the gover nment of I ndia, increase in the education levels of women and increased social awareness in respect of the role women plays in the society. It has now been recognized that to promote self-employment and to reduce the incidence of poverty, some drastic efforts have to be made to accelerate self-employment of women in various sectors.

i. “Women Entrepreneurship” means an act of business ownership and business creation

that empowers women economically increases their economic strength as well as position in society.

ii. According to Kamala Singh, “A women entrepreneur is a confident, innovative and

creative woman capable of achieving economic independence individually or in collaboration generates employment opportunities for others through initiating establishing and running an enterprise by keeping pace with her personal, family and social life”.

iii. In the words of Former President APJ Abdul Kalam "empowering women is a

prerequisite for creating a good nation, when women are empowered, society with stability is assured. Empowerment of women is essential as their thoughts and their value systems lead to the development of a good family, good society and ultimately a good nation."

Khanka (2002) referred to women entrepreneurs as those who innovate, imitate or adopt a business activity. Given that entrepreneurship is the set of activities performed by an entrepreneur, it could be argued that being an entrepreneur precedes entrepreneurship. In any case, the entrepreneurial definitions described above highlight the aspects of risk-taking, innovating and resource organizing.

Need for the study:



The efforts of Gover nment of I ndia through various welfare organizations, Non-Governmental agencies, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and hosts of other agencies have started looking after and helping the efforts of women entr epreneurs. Encouraged with the efforts made by different agencies, the aim of the present study is to test the status of Women Entrepreneurs through the microfinance. This study was carr ied out as the role of women entrepreneurs has gained significance in today's envir onment. Most of them are capable of fully identifying themselves in their new economic role in society. The study has highlighted many factor s that have motivated women entrepr eneurs in starting an entrepreneurial career. Success has been seen mostly among the mid thirty and early for ty age group. The government schemes, incentives and subsidies have stimulated and provided support measur es to women entrepreneurs in India.

7. Objectives And Research Methodology Of The Study:

The study is based on secondary data which is collected from the published reports of RBI, CMIE, Economic Surveys, news paper s, journals, websites, etc. The study was planned with the following object ives:

i. To provide a national networking forum for women in business that will support them in

starting and growing their businesses.

ii. To identify problems unique to women in setting up and running their enterprises

iii. To suggest certain remedial measures to solve the problems of Women Entrepreneurship

in Indian Economy.

iv. To study the policies, programmes, inst itutional networks and the involvement of support

agencies in promoting women's entrepreneurship.

8. Women Entrepreneurship In India:

Women have gr adually been changing with the sensitivity to their role and economic status in the society. Women are increasingly being conscious of their existence, their rights, and work situation. However, the position of women work participation as well as both is low in I ndia in comparison to selected counties of the world. Women work participation in India is 31.6 % where as in USA it is 45 %, UK 43 %, Canada 42 %, France 32 %, Indonesia 40 % Sr ilanka and Brazil both 35 %. Table-1 refers women entrepreneurship position in the selected states



of I ndia is 30 per cent on an average, but in Bihar it is only 15.04 per cent. Further, in India, men generally take the lead in the entrepreneurial world. With the change of time as well as cultural norms, and incr ease in literacy, women are increasingly ready to enter the field of entrepreneurship.

i. Women entrepr eneur is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal

need and become economically independent. There are economic, social, religious, cultural and other factors existing in the society which responsible for the emergency of the entrepreneurs.

ii. “Women entrepreneur refers equally to someone who has started a one women

business to someone who is a principal in family business or partnership or to someone who is shar eholder in a public company which she runs”.

iii. The Government of India has defined a women entrepreneur is “ an enterprise

owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of the employment generated in the enterprise to women “.

States No of Unit s No. of Women Percentage %

Registered Ent repreneurs

Tamil Nadu 9618 2930 30.36

Uttar Pradesh 7980 3180 39.84

Kerala 5487 2135 38.91

Punjab 4791 1618 33.77

Maharastra 4339 1394 32.12

Gujrat 3872 1538 39.72

Karnatka 3822 1026 26.84

Madhya Pradesh 2967 842 28.38

Behar 7344 1123 15.04

Other States & UTS 14576 4185 28.71 Total

64,796 19,971 32.82

Table 1: Source: CMIE Report-2011

9. Challenges Faced By Women Entrepreneurs:



While empowering women entr epreneurs faced the following problems. Women Entrepreneurs encounter two sets of problems i.e. general problems entrepreneurs and problems specific to women entrepreneurs. These ar e discussed follows.

9.1. Male dominated Society:

The greatest deterrent to women entrepreneurs is that they are women. The constitution of India speaks about the equality between both the sexes, i.e. men and women. But in practice, women are looked upon as “abla” i.e. weak in all r espects. In male dominated Indian society, women are not treated equal to men. This turn serves as a barrier to women entry into business.

9.2. Problem of Finances arrangement:

The women entr epreneurs are suffering from ; inadequate financial resour ces and working capital. The women entrepreneurs lack access to external funds due to their inability to provide tangible secur ity. Very few women have the tangible property in hand. Women entrepreneurs suffer from shortage of finance on two counts ( i) women do not generally have property on their own names to use that as collateral securities for obtaining loans/funds from banks and other financial institutions. Thus their access to external sources is very limited .(ii) the banks also consider women less credit worthy and discourage women borrowers on the belief that they cannot repay back the amount of loans taken by them.

9.3. Scarcity of raw materials required for productive capacities:

Most of the women enterprises are plagued by the scarcity of r aw mater ials and necessar y inputs. Knowledge of alternative source of raw mater ials availability and high negotiation skills are the basic requirement to run a business. Getting the raw materials from different souse with discount prices is the factor that determines the profit margin. Lack of knowledge of availability of the raw materials and low-level negotiation and bar gaining skills are the factors, which affect women entrepreneur's business adventures.

9.4. Market Oriented Risk:

A number of women have to face the challenges of market because of stiff competition. Many business women find it difficult to captur e the market and compete with their product. They are not fully aware of the changing market conditions.



9.5. Stiff competition with men and established self- sufficient entrepreneurs:

Women entrepreneurs do not have a proper organizational set-up to pump in a lot of money for canvassing and adver tisements. Thus they have to face a stiff competition with the men entrepreneurs who easily involve in the promotion and development ar ea and carry out easy marketing of their products with both the or ganized sector and their male counterparts. Such a competition ultimately results in the liquidation of women entrepreneurs.

9.6. Mobility Constraints:

Unlike men, women mobility in India is highly limited due to many factors/reasons. A single women asking for room is still looked with suspicion. Cumbersome exercise involved in starting with an enterprise coupled with officials humiliating attitude towards women compels them to give up their spirit of surviving in enterprise altogether.

9.7. Overlapping Of Responsibility of Business And Family:

In I ndia, mainly a woman s duty is to look after her children and manage the other members of the family. Man plays a secondar y role only. I n case of marr ied women she has to strike a fine balance between her business and family. Her total involvement in family leaves little or almost no time or energy to be diverted for the business activities. Support and approval of husbands seems to be necessary condition for women entry into business. Accordingly, the educational level and family background of husbands also influences women participation in the field of enterprise.

9.8. Lack of education and technology:

Knowledge of latest technological changes, know how, and education level of the person are significant factor that affect business. The literacy rate of women in India is found at low level compared to male population. Many women in developing nations lack the education needed to spur successful entrepreneurship. They are ignorant of new technologies or unskilled in their use, and often unable to do research and gain the necessar y training (UNIDO, 1995b, p.1). Although great advances are being made in technology, many women's illiteracy, structural difficulties, and lack of access to technical training prevent the technology from being beneficial or even available to females (" Women Entrepreneurs in Poorest Countries," 2001). According to The Economist, this lack of knowledge and the continuing treatment of women as second-class citizens keep them in a pervasive cycle of



poverty ("The Female Poverty Trap," 2001). The studies indicates that uneducated women donot have the knowledge of measurement and basic accounting.

9.9. Lesser risk and uncertainty bearing attitude:

Women in India lead a protected life. They are even less educated and economically not stable neither self-depended. All these factors reduce their ability to bear r isks and uncertainties involved in a business unit, which is the most important criteria of ever y business activity.

9.10. Lack of self-confidence and optimistic attitude amongst women:

Today all the women are suffering from one major problem of lack of self-confidence, will-power, strong mental outlook, optimism etc. They always fear from committing mistakes while doing their piece of work, more over there is limited initiative of taking risk and bear ing uncertainty in them. Thus all these psychological factors often obstr uct their path of achieving success in the area of enterpr ise.

9.11. Lack of Managerial skills:

Women have to depend on office staffs and intermediar ies, to get things done, especially, the marketing and sales side of business. Here there is more probability for business fallacies like the inter mediaries take major part of the sur plus or profit. Marketing means mobility and confidence in dealing with the external world, both of which women have been discouraged from developing by social conditioning. Even when they are otherwise in control of an enterprise, they often depend on males of the family in this area.

9.12. Society:

It also one of the dominant reasons for their failure is the attitude of society people towards their modern business prospects and developing attitude. Women nowadays have low risk taking ability because of the number of questions put forward by the conservative society people. Thus they are under a social pressure which r estrains them to prosper and achieve success in the field of entrepreneurship.

9.13. Lack of proper support in family and Relation:

Many a times their own family members are not supporting and cooperating as well as having



encouraging attitude to dare to enter into the entrepreneurship field. They are always making many pessimistic feelings to be aroused in their minds and making them feel that family and not business is a place meant for them. Due to such limited scope of help and cooper ation from family and other people, they drop the idea of excelling in the enter prise field. Apart from the above discussed problems there may occur other ser ies of serious problems faced by women entrepreneurs are improper infrastructural facilities, high cost of production, attitude of people of society towards the women modern business outlook, low needs of achievement and socio-economic constraints often puts women behind in the field of enter prise.

9.14. Motivational Factors:

Successful businessmen can be self-motivated through setting up a mind and taking up risk and accepting social responsibilities on shoulder. The other factors such as family support government policies financial assistance etc. are also important to set up business.

9.15. Lack of Confidence:

Women lack of confidence in their strength and competence. The family members and the society are reluctant to stand beside their entrepreneurial growth.

9.16. Training Programs:

Tr aining programs are essential to new r ural and young entrepreneurs who wish to set

up a small and medium scale unit. The programs enrich the skill and potential of women entrepreneur.

The Indian Economic Outlook Report 2011-12 indicates a GDP growth rate of 8.2% and women entrepreneurs in India have good reason to be feeling bullish.

Women s Web Women & Entrepreneur ship in I ndia 2012 shows a significant rise in female entrepreneurship in the country, there are a still few challenges that they face to achieve success. Women in India have done ver y well for themselves and the country. I ndra Nooyi – Chair man and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, is the most well-known face amongst Indian businesswomen, HP Managing Dir ector Neelam Dhawan, ICICI Bank Limited Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar and I BM India CMO Virginia Sharma are just a few examples that exemplify the strength of Indian women.



While there are women who have become successful businesswomen and role models for the Indian Industry, there are others including Ekta Kapoor who changed the face of Indian television, Neeta Lulla who is an Indian fashion stylist and made a mark for herself in the fashion industry and Shahnaz Husain, one of the most pr ominent Indian female entrepreneurs known for her herbal cosmetics and beauty products.

S.No Name Company

1 Chanda Kochhar ICICI Bank

2 Kiran M Shaw Biocon

3 Shobhana Bhartia HT Media

4 Shikha Shar ma Axis Bank

5 Naina Lal Kidwai HSBC India

6 Kalpana Morparia JP Morgan India

7 Neelam Dhawan Hewlett-Packard India

8 Mallika Sr inivasan TAFE

9 Preetha Reddy Apollo Hospitals

10 Roopa Kudva CRISI L

Table 2: Source: women web 2012

Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs and Leaders of India for the year 2012

10. Major Uplift To Women Entrepreneurs:

i. Enroll women or ganizations for government schemes and incentives ii. Get collective representation of women businesses on major for ums, economic policy

making, banking and funding. etc.

iii. Providing marketing platforms for products produced by women businesses. Give

women businesses global representation

iv. Leadership training and advanced skill development programs of the highest

standards to compete globally

v. Provide opportunities for women to get them a level playing field



11. Government Adopt Steps To Draw More Women Into Entrepreneurship:

i. Increase the ability of women to participate in the labour force by ensur ing the

availability of affordable child care and equal treatment in the workplace. More generally, improving the position of women in society and promoting entrepreneurship generally will have benef its in terms of women s entrepreneurship.

ii. Incorporate a women s entrepreneur ial dimension in the formulation of all SME-

related policies. This can be done by ensuring that the impact on women s entrepreneurship is taken into account at the policy stage.

iii. Periodically evaluate the impact of any SME-related policies on the success of

women-owned businesses and the extent to which such businesses take advantage of them. The objective should be to identify ways to improve the effectiveness of those that should be retained. Good practices that ar e identified in this way should be disseminated and shared by all.

iv. Improve the factual and analytical underpinnings of our understanding of the role of

women entrepr eneurs in the economy by strengthening the statistical basis for carrying out gender-related cross-country comparative analyses and longitudinal studies of the impact of important developments and policies.

All the government bodies should induct women entrepreneurs on their boards, to generate gender sensitivity and cr eate policies which are conducive for the growth of women entrepreneurship.

12. Women Entrepreneur Associations:

The efforts of government and its different agencies ar e supplemented by NGOs and associations that are playing an equally important role in facilitating women empower ment. List of various women associations in I ndia is provided in the table below. S.no. Association Name

Website

1 Feder ation of Indian Women Entrepreneurs http://www.fiwe.org/

( FIWE)

2 Consortium of Women Entrepreneurs(CWEI) http://www.cwei.org/ 3 Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of Andhra http://www.aleap.org/index.html

Pradesh



4 Association of Women Entrepreneurs of http://awakeindia.org.in/

Karnataka (AWAKE)

5 Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) http://www.sewa.or g/ 6 Women Entrepreneurs Promotion Association

Click here for Profile

( WEPA)

7 The Marketing Organisation of Women Click here for Profile

Enterprises (MOOWES)

http://www.biharmahilaudyogsangh.com/

8 Bihar Mahila Udyog Sangh

9 Mahakaushal Association of Woman http://www.maweindia.com/

Entrepreneurs (MAWE)

10 SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurship http://www.scwec.com/index.htm

Council

11 Women Entrepreneurs Association of Tamil Click here for Profile

Nadu ( WEAT)

12 TiEStr ee Shakti (TSS) http://www.tiestreeshakti.org/

13 Women Empowerment Corporation http://www.wecindia.org

Table 3: Details of Women Entrepreneur Associations in India

At present, the Gover nment of: I ndia has over 27 schemes for women operated by different departments and ministr ies. Some of these are

Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)

Khadi And Village I ndustr ies Commission (KVIC)

Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM)

Prime Minister s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY)

Entrepreneur ial Development programme (EDPs)

Management Development programmes

Women s Development Corporations(WDCs)

Marketing of Non-Far m Products of Rur al Women (MAHIMA)

Assistance to Rural Women in Non-Far m Development (ARWIND) schemes

Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD)

Working Women s Forum

Indira Mahila Yojana



Indira Mahila Kendra

Mahila Samiti Yojana

Mahila Vikas Nidhi

Micro Credit Scheme

Rashtr iya Mahila Kosh

SIDBI„s Mahila Udyam Nidhi

Mahila Vikas Nidhi

SBI s Stree Shakti Scheme

NGO s Cr edit Schemes

Micro & Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programmes (MSE-CDP).

National Banks For Agriculture and Rural Development s Schemes

Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Par iyojana (RGMVP)

Priyadarshini Project- A programme for Rural Women for Rural Women

Empowerment and Livelihood in

Mid Gangetic plains

NABARD- KFW-SEWA Bank project

Exhibitions for women, under promotional package for Micro & Small

enterprises approved by CCEA under market ing support

The efforts of government and its differ ent agencies are ably supplemented by NGOs that are playing an equally important role in facilitating women empower ment. Despite concerted efforts of governments and NGOs there are certain gaps.

13. Future Prospects of Development of Women Entrepreneurs:

Women entrepreneurs are contributing a lot in rural development and growth of economic but there potential is still untapped. Right efforts on from multi direction are required in the development of women entrepreneur s. The following efforts can be taken into account for effective development of women entrepreneurs:-

i. Easy availability of cr edit and at preferential interest rate for women entrepreneurs

remains long standing demand.

ii. Better educational facilities and schemes should be extended to women folk from

government part.



iii. Government should felicitate various schemes and plans for the encouragement of

women s entrepreneur.

iv. Women entrepreneur should more competitive and efficient in the local &

international market. There should be a strong monitoring of these policies at different levels of execution.

v. Government should organize training programmes to develop skills, professional

competencies, leadership, and infor mation of marketing and financial at village level.

vi. Infor mation should flow in r ight direction with the help of NGO„s and

government organizations to about policies, plans and strategies on the development of women in the field of industr y, trade and commer ce.

vii. Counseling through the aid of committed NGOS, Psychologists, managerial

experts and technical personnel should be provided.

viii. Government making provisions of marketing and sales assistance and making

provisions of micro credit system and enterprise credit system to the women entrepreneurs

ix. Financial sector to build up an effective and efficient financial strategy to impr ove

access of women entrepreneurs to banks and financial institutions. It should take up steps to reach the potential women entrepreneurs and encourage them to avail credit and credit plus service from banks.

x. The banks should simplify the procedural formalities in extending loans for

women entrepreneurs. The managerial staff in the banks should assist women applicants in understanding the formalities in simple manner.

14. Conclusions:

Women entrepreneurship must be moulded proper ly with entrepreneur ial traits and skills to meet the changes in trends, challenges global markets and also be competent enough to sustain and str ive for excellence in the entrepreneur ial arena. Micro finance is playing a vital role in the success of SHGs; particularly the entry of r ural women in micro enterprises will be encouraged and aggravated. Women s are facing great challenges at the family, community and state levels, ranging from poverty, illiteracy, and irreligious patriarchy to sociopolitical exclusion. The gover nment should embark on a comprehensive programme for local women,



focusing on enhancing their capacity building and increasing their productivity. The rural women are having basic indigenous knowledge, skill, potential and resources to establish and manage enterprise. Now, what is the need is knowledge regarding accessibility to loans, various funding agencies procedure regarding certification, awareness on gover nment welfar e programmes, motivation, technical skill and support from family, gover nment and other organization. Some microfinance practitioners, community social workers, donor agencies and academic, alternative models of microfinance ar e needed in the near future to reduce poverty and increase women s empowerment. Capacity building involves mor e than simply stimulus assistance through microfinance.



References:

1. S. P. Gupta (2009) -“Statistical methods”, Thir ty eight revised Editions, Sultan Chand

& Sons Publishers, New Delhi.

2. C.R Kothar i (2007) - Research Methodology Methods & Techniques, Second Edition,

New age International Publishers, New Delhi.

3. Manjula Bolthajjira Chengappa. “Micro-Finance and Women Empowerment: Role of

Nongovernment Organizations”.http://www.istr.org/Abstracts2010/pdf/ISTR2010_0212.pdf.

4. Rajendran N (2003) , "Problems and prospects of women Entrepreneurs" SEDME”. 5. Sharma Sheetal (2006) " Educated Women , powered, women" Yojana Vol.50, No.12 6. www.ghallabhansali.com 7. www.icfaijournals.com


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