Women entrepreneurship in India-Role of women in small and medium enterprises

In the Globalised world, women entrepreneurs are playing a vital role and they have become important part of the global quest for the sustained economic development and social progress. In India, though women have played a key role in the society, their entrepreneurial ability has not been properly tapped due to the lower status of women in the society. In India, the women role has been explicitly recognized with a market shift in the approach from women welfare to women development and empowerment from the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-79) onwards and today the significant role of women in entrepreneurship constantly increasing due to various global factors. The Government of India has been implementing several policies and programmes for the development of women entrepreneurship in India. In India, entrepreneurship among women is of recent origin. Socio – economic background is an important factor that influences the woman to start their business. Despite all the social hurdles, Indian women stand tall from the rest of the crowd and are applauded for their achievements in their respective field. The transformation of social fabric of the Indian society, in terms of increased educational status of women and varied aspirations for better living, necessitated a change in the life style of Indian women. She has competed with man and successfully stood up with him in every walk of life and business is no exception for this. These women leaders are assertive, persuasive and willing to take risks. They managed to survive and succeed in this cut- throat competition with their hard work, diligence and perseverance. The present paper focuses on the factors influencing women entrepreneurship and the constraints faced by them in small and Medium Enterprises in India.