Govt Schemes Empower Women Entrepreneurs, Boost Financial Inclusion Across India

Several major women empowerment schemes, such as the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, NaMo Drone Didi Yojana, and the Womaniya Initiative, aim to expand access to credit, skills, and markets. The government highlighted these women-focused initiatives as part of its broader vision of building a "Viksit Bharat" by 2047, where women play a central role in economic growth and community development.

The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) -- launched in 2015 under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign to promote savings for the education and future needs of the girl child.

SSY offers an interest rate of 8.2 per cent annually, tax benefits under Section 80C, and has accumulated deposits of more than Rs 3.33 lakh crore as of December 2025, according to official data.

The factsheet also noted that rural women's economic participation is being strengthened through the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), which brings women together in self-help groups (SHGs).

The DAY-NRLM programme has mobilised over 10.05 crore rural women into more than 90.9 lakh SHGs, creating one of the world's largest networks of women-led community institutions. "The repayment rate is over 98 per cent, which shows how well the groups manage money," the government said.

The technology-led initiative -- NaMo Drone Didi Yojana -- equips women's SHGs with drones for agricultural services such as spraying fertilisers and pesticides, creating new income opportunities and promoting precision farming.

Another initiative, the Lakhpati Didi Scheme, was launched to enable women SHG members to earn over Rs 1 lakh annually through sustainable livelihood activities.

The government has set a target of creating 6 crore "Lakhpati Didis" and launched a national entrepreneurship campaign to train 50 lakh SHG members through 50,000 community resource persons, according to the factsheet.

Moreover, market access for women entrepreneurs is also being expanded through the Womaniya Initiative under the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform.

More than two lakh women-led enterprises have registered on GeM and secured procurement orders worth over Rs 80,000 crore as of January 2026.

Financial inclusion has further been strengthened through schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, the PM SVANidhi, and the Stand-Up India Scheme, which provide access to banking, collateral-free loans and entrepreneurship support.

Launched in 2014, the PMJDY offers universal access to affordable financial services, including basic savings bank accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pensions.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the government also launched the PM SVANidhi scheme in 2020 through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to provide collateral-free working capital loans to street vendors affected by the crisis. "By December 2025, over 1.46 crore loans have been sanctioned," the government said.

Under the Stand-Up India Scheme, women and entrepreneurs from Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities can access bank loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to start businesses across manufacturing, services, trading and agri-allied sectors.

The government said these initiatives are helping women build sustainable livelihoods, gain financial independence and contribute to India's economic development.

- IANS