Finance
A government committee discussed boosting entrepreneurship-led livelihood prospects for rural women and contributing to the national aim of generating 6 crore Lakhpati Didis, according to an official statement released on Saturday.
The Empowered Committee of the Ministry of Rural Development, chaired by Secretary (Rural Development) Rohit Kansal, reviewed proposals under the Non-Farm Livelihoods (NFL) component of DAY-NRLM to strengthen and scale up women-led rural enterprises, as well as to create a pathway for small-scale SHG enterprises to graduate into higher-order, growth-oriented businesses.
The committee reviewed four fresh incubator applications from Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat, with IIT Patna, IIM Jammu, IIM Lucknow, and IIT Gandhinagar serving as potential incubator partners.
The four programs are intended to help over 600 high-potential rural firms by providing structured interventions in company strategy, mentoring, financial planning, formalization, technology adoption, market access, and access to funding.
According to the statement, the Incubator Sub-Scheme draws on the success of four completed incubator programs in Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, and Karnataka, which assisted over 600 SHG firms.
The initiative has since grown dramatically, with 14 incubator programs now functioning in 13 states, supporting about 2,100 rural SHG firms through collaborations with major business and academic institutions such as IIMs, IITs, and renowned incubation institutions.
The previous programs produced tangible results, such as more revenue, better business formalization, and more job creation.
The new incubators will concentrate on industries like food and agri-processing, textiles and handicrafts, manufacturing, retail and services, tourism-related activities, digital firms, and other locally relevant growth areas.
The committee also examined suggestions to expand the startup Village Entrepreneurship Program (SVEP) in West Bengal and Goa, which aims to boost the rural non-farm entrepreneurship ecosystem and enable more SHG members to begin and run sustainable businesses.
“These initiatives reinforce the Government’s commitment to women-led economic development and the Lakhpati Didi initiative, by enabling rural women entrepreneurs to progress from subsistence-level businesses to enterprises with higher turnover, stronger market linkages, improved access to finance and greater employment potential,” said the statement.
Source: IANS
