Emergent of Women Entrepreneurs Small Business (SMEs) a Lucrative

Industry in India

Final Term Paper

Managing in the New Millennium

Touro College GBS

Submitted to: Professor Amato

29th November 2017

 CONTENT

A. Executive Summary

1. Introduction

1.1 About India

1.2 Entrepreneurship and Small Business

1.3 Women Entrepreneurship

1.4 Development of Women Entrepreneur and Small Business in India

1.5 Status of Women Entrepreneurship Today

2. Objective of the study

3. Business Environment

3.1 About Lijjat Company

3.2 SWOT Analysis

3.3 Porters Five Force

4. Major Advantage and Disadvantage

4.1 Advantage

4.2 Disadvantage

5. Management Approach

6. Contribution to Managing New Millennium

7. Conclusion
 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 About India

As being a citizen of Nepal and India being our neighboring country we have lots of similarities.

We tend to share culture, food habits, language, religion and our way of thinking too. Therefore,

based on these similarity, the research paper is based on Women Entrepreneurship in India. This

is interesting because like Nepal, India is also male-dominated society and women there have a lot

of obligations. It is said that husband is the one who earn for family and wife belong inside the

home doing the necessary chores.

Further, doing research on this matter, it was found that even with these obligations for women

there were few women who started doing small business to improve their livelihood, quality of

living. Moreover, in India with total population of 1.324 billion (2016), the total population of

women is 48.17 % in 2016, among which 24.4% are female workforce in India. So, the data shows

today women-owned businesses are growing two times the rate of all businesses.

1.2 Entrepreneurship and Small Business (SMEs)

Today, we can see individuals getting involved in starting up their own business rather than seeking

for regular ten to five jobs. So forth, this has brought the concept of entrepreneurship in light.

Entrepreneurship therefore, is the act of establishing a new business or reviving an existing

business to take advantages of opportunities or prospects. According to NKC entrepreneurship is

the professional application of knowledge, skills and competencies and/or of monetizing a new

idea, by an individual or a set of people by launching an enterprise de novo or diversifying from

an existing one (distinct from seeking self-employment as in a profession or trade), thus to pursue
growth while generating wealth, employment and social good (Goswami, Dalmia , & Pradhan ,

2008).

Similarly, while talking about Small business (SMEs), is growing with lot of investment, and

people are opening up small business that can be from small restaurants to small IT companies.

SMEs reflects the relative nature of the small and medium size classifications, which can be

applied differently to firms in the manufacturing, agricultural, and service sectors. In case of India,

the definition provided in Section 7 of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Act,

2006 (MSMED Act); the act provides for classification of enterprises based on their investment

size and the nature of the activity undertaken by that enterprise. As per MSMED Act, enterprises

are classified into two categories:

a) Manufacturing Enterprises are the enterprises engaged in the manufacture or production

of goods pertaining to any industry specified in the first schedule to the Industries

(Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 or employing plant and machinery in the process

of value addition to the final product having a distinct name or character or use. The

Manufacturing Enterprise are defined in terms of investment in Plant & Machinery.

b) Service Enterprises are the enterprises engaged in providing or rendering of services and

are defined in terms of investment in equipment (SMEs, 2015).

Therefore, today with this growing trend of small business and concept of entrepreneurship

increased, women working in different fields as compared to the earlier days where the activities

of the women were limited only to the domestic works (Chavan & Murkute, 2016).
 1.3 Women Entrepreneurship

According to Government of India, A woman entrepreneur can be defined as a confident,

innovative and creative woman capable of achieving self-economic independence individually or

in collaboration, generates employment opportunities for others through initiating, establishing

and running the enterprise by keeping pace with her personal, family and social life.

Similarly, women entrepreneurs are those who initiate, organize and run a business enterprise.

Another definition might be, woman entrepreneurs are those who starts, owns and takes initiative

by investing at least 51% in an enterprise.

Talking about India women entrepreneurship started from their kitchen activities, mainly in

preparing commercially the 3Ps namely, Pickles, Papads and Powder and few of them venture

into services industry relating to hospitality, catering, educational services, consultation or public

relations, beauty clinics, etc. (Sharma, 2013).

1.4 Development of Women Entrepreneur and Small Business in India

In India, women have made a comparatively late entry into business scenario mainly due to the

orthodox and traditional socio-cultural environment. Woman entrepreneurship came into existence

around 1990s. Before that, in the 70s and 90s, the women in India were hardly engaged in any

type of self-employment. A woman engaging in entrepreneurial activities like medium and

small-scale enterprise was a remote idea. They were perceived as a homemaker and an idea that a

woman can take up entrepreneurial activity was a joke. It was predominantly a male dominated

field till the rise of 90s.

During this period the women were attracted towards various opportunities of employment in

different banks, LIC, teaching jobs, etc. They were also found in the low productive sectors like
agriculture and house hold activities. After the introduction of the policy of privatization,

liberalization and globalization the women started responding to the changes in the environment

and their entry in the entrepreneurial activities was noticed. The process of computerization also

was an aid for women in their way. The beginning period marked the existence of women in the

businesses related to home made products like pickles and papads. But later the focus was shifted

towards the entrepreneurial activities related to the small and medium enterprises related to the

manufacturing, trading and service sector (Chavan & Murkute, 2016).

Thus, in this present context, women owned businesses are highly increasing in the economies of

India as well as in almost all countries. The hidden entrepreneurial potentials of women have

gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in the society.

Skill, knowledge and adaptability in business are the main reasons for women to emerge into

business ventures. A strong desire to do something positive is an inbuilt quality of entrepreneurial

women, who is capable of contributing values in both family and social life.

With the advent of media, women are aware of their own traits, rights and the work situations. The

glass ceilings are shattered, and women are found indulged in every line of business from papad

to power cables. The challenges and opportunities provided to the women of digital era are growing

rapidly that the job seekers are turning into job creators. They are flourishing as designers, interior

decorators, exporters, publishers, garment manufacturers and still exploring new avenues of

economic participation.

It is estimated that women entrepreneurs presently comprise about 10% of the total number of

entrepreneurs in India, with the percentage growing every year. If the prevailing trends continue,

it is likely that in another five years, women will comprise 20% of the entrepreneurial force

(Saidapur et.al, 2012). The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07) aims at empowering women through
translating the recently adopted National Policy for Empowerment of Women (2001) into action

and ensuring Survival, Protection and Development of women and children through rights based

approach.

1.5 Status of Women Entrepreneurship Today

Now in India, we can see that there has been an increasing trend in number of women-owned

enterprises as the result of drastic change where, women are participating in large number. Today,

more women are participating in various economic activities. Female entrepreneurs in India are

active at all levels domestically, regionally and globally. They are playing very important role in

socio-economic development of all countries. Because of their participation, global economy is

being changed at present.

All over the world, it is estimated that approximately one third of the business organizations are

owned by women. In India, the position is near about the same. According to an article, a survey

in 2012 showed 25% of female started their entrepreneurship career from the age between 20-30,

also these female were mostly from different cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata,

Pune etc. where Bangalore city was leading. Similarly, as for industry type, professional services,

IT/ITES, apparel/accessories and food & beverages are the four major sectors in which women

own businesses (59% of those surveyed) (Singh, 2012).

For the development of women entrepreneurship government of India has played a vital role by

formulating different programs;

1. Seventh Five-Year Plan: In the seventh five-year plan, a special chapter on the

Integration of women in development was introduced by Government with following

suggestion:
 It was suggested to treat women as a specific target groups in all major development

programs of the country.

It is also suggested in the chapter to devise and diversify vocational training facilities

for women to suit their changing needs and skills.

Efforts should be made to increase their efficiency and productivity through appropriate

technologies, equipment and practices.

It was suggested to provide the required assistance for marketing the products produced

by women entrepreneurs.

It was also suggested to involve the women in decision-making process.

2. Eight Five-Year Plan: The Government of India devised special programs to increases

employment and income-generating activities for women in rural areas. The following

plans are lunched during the Eight-Five Year Plan:

i. Prime Minister Rojgar Yojana and EDPs were introduced to develop entrepreneurial

qualities among rural women.

ii. Women in agriculture scheme was introduced to train women farmers having small and

marginal holdings in agriculture and allied activities.

iii. To generate more employment opportunities for women KVIC took special measures in

remote areas.

iv. Women co-operatives schemes were formed to help women in agro-based industries like

dairy farming, poultry, animal husbandry, horticulture etc. with full financial support from

the Government.
v. Several other schemes like integrated Rural Development Programs (IRDP), Training of

Rural youth for self-employment (TRYSEM) etc. were started to alleviated poverty.30-

40% reservation is provided to women under these schemes.

3. Ninth Five-Year Plan: Economic development and growth is not achieved fully without

the development of women entrepreneurs. The Government of India has introduced the

following schemes for promoting women entrepreneurship because the future of small

scale industries depends upon the women-entrepreneurs:

a. Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) scheme

was lunched by Ministry of Small Industries to develop women entrepreneurs in

rural, semi-urban and urban areas by developing entrepreneurial qualities.

b. Women Comkp0onent Plant, a special strategy adop0ted by Government to aid

women entrepreneurs.

c. Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana and Swaran Jayanti Sekhari Rozgar

Yojana were introduced by government to provide reservations for women and

encouraging them to start their ventures.

d. New schemes named Women Development Corporations were introduced by

government to help women entrepreneurs in arranging credit and marketing

facilities.

e. State Industrial and Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has introduced following

schemes to assist the women entrepreneurs. These schemes are:

Mahila Udyam Nidhi

Micro Cordite Scheme for Women

 Mahila Vikas Nidhi

Women Entrepreneurial Development Programmes

Marketing Development Fund for Women

4. Consortium of Women entrepreneurs of India provides a platform to assist the women

entrepreneurs to develop new, creative and innovative techniques of production, finance

and marketing. There are different bodies such as NGOs, voluntary organizations, Self-

help groups, institutions and individual enterprises from rural and urban areas which

collectively help the women entrepreneurs in their activities.

5. Training programmes: The following training schemes specially for the self-employment

of women are introduced by government:

i. Support for Training and Employment Programme of Women (STEP).

ii. Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA).

iii. Small Industry Service Institutes (SISIs)

iv. State Financial Corporations

v. National Small Industries Corporations

vi. District Industrial Centres (DICs)

6. Mahila Vikas Nidhi: SIDBI has developed this fund for the entrepreneurial development

of women especially in rural areas. Under Mahila Vikas Nidhi grants loan to women are

given to start their venture in the field like spinning, weaving, knitting, embroidery

products, block printing, handlooms handicrafts, bamboo products etc.

 7. Rashtriya Mahila Kosh: In 1993, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh was set up to grant micro credit

to pore women at reasonable rates of interest with very low transaction costs and simple

procedures (Sameer, 2015).

2. Objective of the study

To determine the status of Women Entrepreneurship in India.

To highlight the emergent of women entrepreneurship in India and their contribution

in economy empowerment.

3. Business Environment

Even though India is male dominated society in 1950s seven women got together and open small

snack company which is todays number one company capturing the Indian market. Therefore, to

study about business environment based on women entrepreneurship this research paper takes a

example of Lijjat Papad.

3.1 About Lijjat Papad Company

Liijat Papad (food item like chips taken as snack), was established fifty years ago by a bunch of

seven semi - literate women had a simple dream, a dream to be self-reliant. This group of seven

housewives dared to break the stereotype and step into the domain primarily attributed to men. In

search of livelihood, they sought help and borrowed a meager amount of IRs. 80 from Chhangalal

Parekh, a philanthropist. With that meager amount of IRs 80, stockpiled skills and deluging

audacity, this group embarked on a journey that touched thousands of lives. With Jaswantiben

Popat and six other women, this enterprise originated on the terrace of a building in Girguam.
Their first gathering produced four packets of papad where, Chhangalal became their guide and

they soon expanded from a group of 7 people to 25.

Things were never as easy as a pie for them. The first impediment came in disguise of rains.

Drying papad wasn't possible. But the rains weren't strong enough to shake their strong

convictions. Soon they were able to buy a stove to dry them and production ran smoothly. They

decided to never resort to donations or compromise on quality even if they incurred a loss. This

one resolution brought them a long way. Their business venture flourished as a cooperative system

and expanded to more than 300 members in less than 3 years. Very soon the name "Lijjat ", the

Gujarati word for tasty was chosen.

After long hard work and successive failed attempts to open a new branch, Lijjat opened its

second branch on the lands of Gujarat, after which they never stopped expanding. Today the

organization is known as Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad and has employed and empowered

plethora of women across the nation. Lijjat Papad has become an intrinsic household item and

doesn't need an introduction (Lijjat Papad: A story of brave women entrepreneurs).

3.2 SWOT Analysis of the Lijjat Papad

This organization has its own uniqueness and has emerged as an innovative organization in which

women from any religion, caste, or class can become members creating an informal environment

calling each other as sister. Therefore, the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats are

discussed below.

Strength Weakness

Hardworking employees.
 Women empowerment and helping in Inconsistencies in the quality of

improvement of quality of life. product.

Able to maintain the quality and Incoordination among head office and

standards of products. Branch offices.

Unique status and brand image.

Opportunities Threats

Expansion of business Since it has multiple portfolio there is

Tie up with similar company to huge competition.

increase the distribution

Table 1: SWOT Analysis

3.3 Porters Five Forces

Similarly, Lijjat Papad holds 90% of Papad market in India along with approx 20% of market in

spices and detergent and its sales exceeding over IRs 301 crore (IRs 3.1 billion) plus at present,

approximately 35% per cent of the production is exported, to countries like the United States, the

United Kingdom, the Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong and Holland. Thus, for such company

analysis of porters five forces is important which is discussed below:


Threats To New Entrants
If we look at the market it seems that there is high level of
threat to new entrants becasue there is high level of
competion. Further the comapny has set itself up so it is
difficult to compete with it. Moreover, the new comapnies
need to set premium price and tackle with the largest local
brand in the market.

Futher, the buying power of supplier is low beacsue their are so

Buying Power Of Supplier many competitors provinding similar prodcuts and its easy for
the consumer to switch to other brands easily.

Similarly, if we look from consumer perspective there is low

level of buying power of consumer because they are so
Buying Power Of Consumer familiar with the taste and quality of product so its difficult
for them to switch easily into different products.

Lijjat market has high level of threat of substitutes because

there are many competitors in the market providing snack
products to the consumer. Therefore, if a consumer is
Threats To Substitute Products
willing to buy certain products they can buy based on
comparing the price, quality and the brand name of
products. which therefore leads the company to face threats
of substitute products.

Now if we look at the competition the market is fierce.

Intensity Of Rivarly
Which means the intensity is high because each of these
comapnies have there own startegy to tackle with one
another and the competition is based on pricing, point of sell
and management tactics. Thus to survive in the intense
market its difficult for the company.

Table 2: Porters Five Forces

Hence, studying about the business environment shows how organization are facing challenges

however with proper strategy implementation companies like Lijjat Papad is still in existence.

With good vision and mission, the company is still capturing the market. There might be problem

of inconsistency but the president of the company Jyoti Naki is taking necessary steps to remove

these hurdles.
 4. Major Advantage and Disadvantage of Women Entrepreneurship

4.1 Advantages

Talking about the advantages, according to an article it is said that in case of India women

entrepreneurs have an edge over male entrepreneurs where edges matter to investors. One obvious

reason is that they understand the customer perspective and can build better relationship with the

employees, supplier, shareholders, customer and government (Fund, 2015). Consequently, with

the development of women entrepreneurship in India,

a. The concept of women empowerment has emerged, and it is helping women to build

themselves and be self-confident and self-reliant.

b. It also has created employment opportunities in India. With establishment of SMEs many

women today are getting good jobs and due to emergent of women entrepreneurship the

women in India are found getting hired in executive positions too.

c. With establishment of SMEs organization there has been economic empowerment plus the

quality of living standards is growing.

4.2 Disadvantages

Similarly, there are some disadvantage for women entrepreneur while initiating SMEs which are,

a. Financial barriers exist while starting up business for women in India as their source is

family, friends. For collection of money however, in India small micro medium small

enterprise finances are there for those women who wants to start business. These financial

institutions are also carried out by women.

 b. There is huge competition in market, and it becomes difficult for these companies to

compete. Yet, there are organization who helps these organization grow like Lijjat Papad

does similar thing they have set up budget to help these small organization to run their

business.

c. Lastly, the major disadvantage is that women in India dont get support for such things.

There is lack of trust on them being male dominated society female entrepreneur face

challenges of social expectations.

5. Management Approach

Management Approach are the theories and practices applied in specific management behavior or

situation to increase the management effectiveness. Further, talking about the Indian management

approach it seems that SMEs are found using contingency approach and moreover there are

adapting the Nurturant Task approach. These approaches both focuses on participative model, task

oriented, considers employees as one of the major resource. These approaches are used to

encourage and motivate employees by rewarding and punishing.

Looking at management style or approach of Lijjat Papad it also follows these approaches where

the authority is decentralized, employees are encouraged to patriciate in decision making, informal

environment, and there is also reward and punishment system, moreover employees are motivated

and supported and encouraged towards improvement of their skills and performance that benefits

them and the organization.

6. Contribution to Managing New Millennium

The transition to the next millennium of women entrepreneurship would be creation of new

paradigms where there wouldnt be male dominated society, freedom of females to do

whatever they want. Moreover, the awareness for higher education would be created, with

development of technology this would bring changes that would help SMEs grow. With

increasing rate of women enterprises in India the later generation would be more into

developing entrepreneurial skills and rather focusing on taking jobs they would be more

focused on opening small business.

Similarly, this would enhance on economic growth, change living standards, will decrease

unemployment ratio and build up more self-reliant women. Given the chance to women they

can conquer the world of business because some of the researches shows that with presence of

women entrepreneurs in an organization there is high level of success. This sector

improvement is very much necessary for new millennium because uncultivated talents of

young women would be identified, trained and exploited for various types of industries to

increase the productivity in the industrial sector as well as the nation.

 7. Conclusion

As we know women have the potential and determination to setup, uphold and supervise their own

enterprise in a very systematic manner, appropriate support and encouragement from the society,

family, government can make these women entrepreneurs a part of mainstream of national

economy and they can contribute to the economy progress of India. Similarly, the emergent of

SMEs owned by women appears to be doing good business in India. There are many successful

women entrepreneurs in India like, Akhila srinivasan, Managing Director, Shriram Investments

ltd., Chanda Kocchar, Executive Director, ICICI Bank, Ekta Kapoor, Creative Director, balaji

Telefilms Ltd, Priya Paul, Chairman, Apeejay Park Hotels., Rajshree Pathy, Chairman, Rajshree

Sugars & Chemicals ltd., Ranjana Kumar, Chairman, NABARD.

Therefore, seeing the trend of growing SMES, there is market and potential for investment in such

market. Governments has also come forward with so many lucrative schemes like facilities,

concessions and incentives exclusively for women entrepreneur. Further different financial

institution and entrepreneurship development institution are supporting the women. In all the

research paper concludes that there is high potential in India and Indian market is being lucrative

for many investors in different countries.

 8. References

Chavan, V. M., & Murkute, D. A. (2016). ROLE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

Fund, U. S. (2015, August 12). Why India needs more women entrepreneurship . Retrieved from

Forbes India: http://www.forbesindia.com/blog/health/why-india-needs-more-women-

entrepreneurs/

Goswami, A., Dalmia , N., & Pradhan , M. (2008). Entrepreneurship in India National

Knowledge Commission. A Study by National Knowledge Commission.

Lijjat Papad: A story of brave women entrepreneurs. (n.d.). Retrieved from Caption Life:

https://www.captionlife.co.in/single-post/2016/02/04/Lijjat-Papad-A-story-of-brave-

women-entrepreneurs

Sameer. (2015). Step Taken By Government to Develop Women Entrepreneurs in India.

Retrieved from Publish Your Article:

http://www.publishyourarticles.net/eng/articles2/step-taken-by-government-to-develop-

women-entrepreneurs-in-india/2735/

Sharma, M. Y. (2013). Women Entrepreneur In India. IOSR Journal of Business and

Management (IOSR-JBM), 09-14.

Singh, A. V. (2012, June 27). Women & Entrepreneurship In India. Retrieved from Women's

Web: http://www.womensweb.in/articles/women-entrepreneurship-in-india/

SMEs. (2015, july 27). Retrieved from Indian Economic Service:

http://www.arthapedia.in/index.php?title=Small_and_Medium_Scale_Enterprise_(SMEs)