Women in business can generate 170 mn jobs in India by 2030: Report

This is more than 25% of the new jobs required for the entire working-age population by 2030

Women in entrepreneurship can generate 150–170 million jobs in India, which is more than 25 per cent of the new jobs required for the entire working-age population by 2030, according to a joint report by Bain & Company and Google. 

The report titled “Women Entrepreneurship in India — Powering the economy with her” also found that of the 432 million women in working age, about 343 million are not paid formal workers. An estimated 324 million of these women are not in the labour force, and another 19 million are in the labour force but are not employed.

The report suggests that in addition to job creation by private and government sectors, entrepreneurship is an untapped opportunity for working-age women in India. 

Over the past decade, women-owned enterprises have increased to 20 per cent from 14 per cent, as per government sources. Also, women-owned enterprises in India are largely single-person enterprises. This translates to lower returns and employment — only 17 per cent of all women-owned businesses employ hired workers compared to 28 per cent for overall businesses. 

The report also found that entrepreneurship among women is over-represented in numbers. Surveys across parts of India suggest that 10-30 per cent “women-owned” enterprises are often not run by women. 

Accounting for enterprises disguised as women-owned enterprises, Bain’s analysis suggests that the total share of enterprises that are truly owned and run by women is likely to be lower than 20 per cent.  The report suggests that an all-States effort focused on enabling women entrepreneurs to start up and scale could increase direct employment by around 50 million to 60 million people and increase indirect and induced employment of 100 million to 110 million people by 2030. 

 According to the report, women entrepreneurs are distinguished in six categories — scalers (1 per cent) who are rural or urban women with non-farm businesses and generate more than Rs 50 lakh in revenue or employ more than 10 people. 

The urban small business owner constitutes about 6 per cent, and includes women-owned businesses that generate less than Rs 50 lakh in revenue, and typically employees less than 10 people. Small, rural non-farm local businesses contribute around 8 per cent.

 Another category, called urban solopreneur constitute about 31 per cent and are urban, self-employed women who usually work from home, occasionally with part-time help.

Rural soloprenuers are non-farm, home-based business owners who generate supplemental household income by selling individually or through collectives and constitute 38 per cent of the women entrepreneur market.  The rural agripreneurs are about 16 per cent of women entrepreneurs who run farm-based business owners, focused on growing and selling agriculture products for profit, and may employ people formally.