Abstract

The total population of India is 147 crores and women form 47 percent of the total population. The workforce participation rate of women is very low at 14.7 percent and the remaining are in unpaid employment. The statistical profile of women shows literacy rate, life expectancy and enrollment in higher education have drastically increased since Independence. The population participation in economic activities is beneficial to the country. The percent of women who are neither in employment or gainful activity is 67.2 percent in 2024. The main barriers identified as inhibiting women participation are culture, family roles and finance. The review paper discusses about the financial schemes sponsored by the Central and State Governments for promotion of women entrepreneurship and thereby achieves financial inclusion. In India, there are approximately 60.84 million MSME units in India, of which 12.9 million are owned by women. Majority of the MSME owned by women are in the micro sector. The ecosystem needs for women entrepreneurship has basically six components. These six ecosystem needs are: a) Entrepreneurship promotion, which includes creating awareness and knowledge of different entrepreneurship opportunities; b) Easy and affordable access to finance; c) Training and skilling in technical and business skills; d) Mentoring and networking from industry experts to guide and incubate budding entrepreneurs and peer networking; e) Market linkages with domestic and global markets; f) Access to business, legal, digital, and other higher support services for better efficiency and productivity. The ecosystem of access to finance support is in the form of term loans, business loan capital, grant–in-aid, credit guarantee, seed money, margin money, working capital, interest and capital subsidy. The access to finance is a challenging task for any entrepreneur. The role of the government is to fill the gap by creating Financial Institutional Framework. The economic objective of financial inclusion is achieved by the Government by lending finance to the women entrepreneurs in the form of grants, loans and subsidies. The government and other institutional support schemes have increased the spirit of entrepreneurship among women. The financial incentives through various schemes for promoting women entrepreneurship have seen a growth in financial inclusion. The main advantages in financial inclusion of women are contribution to GDP, raise in Standard of Living, empowerment and bringing back a section of the society into main stream of economy

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