Women-promoted MSMEs mean business, too

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) promoted by women may be on a more-than-equal footing with their peers on several counts.

An analysis of over 350 women-promoted manufacturing MSMEs rated by CRISIL until December 2015 shows that these units have stable and diversified business operations that help them weather economic and business cycles better. About 79 per cent have been operational for more than five years and 71 per cent have diversified business operations in terms of product, customers and geographic reach.

Further, these MSMEs have strong investment in technology, which helps them outperform competitors. About 88 per cent of them have automated/semi-automated operations.

And that's not all. Women-promoted MSMEs have also proven to be better loan customers, as they exhibit good repayment habits. On-time repayment of these enterprises ranged over 95 per cent.

This is encouraging, and strong testimony to their business acumen, even though registered women-promoted MSMEs are a small proportion of the MSME universe - about 14 per cent as per Ministry of MSME Annual Report 2014-15.

CRISIL believes the need of the hour is to keep the momentum going. Various schemes announced by government will encourage women's entrepreneurship, especially first-generation entrepreneurs.

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Note: This fortnightly tracker presents to our readers insights on MSMEs, a key element of the Indian economy. CRISIL has rated over 75,000 MSMEs in India.