The Indian North-Eastern region comprises of Eight States- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Predominantly these are agrarian states and are considered as one of the most biodiverse regions of the country. The North East has a lot to offer – from the place that receives most rainfall on Earth – Mawsynram to Asia’s cleanest village – Mawlynnongto the hottest Chilli in the World – Bhut Jolokia. Sadly it is also one of the most under-developed regions of the country despite being rich in terms of its natural resources, minerals, high potential for hydropower generation, diverse flora and fauna. The region has not received the attention it truly deserved and still lags even in basic amenities to a large extent.
However, the encouraging factor is that the central government has now finally realised the potential that North East has to offer and has diverted its focus on these regions and socio-economic development efforts seem to have caught up at last. The past few years have witnessed several developmental works being undertaken simultaneously and consequently, every single one of the eight northeastern states in India has been growing rapidly in the socio-economic front. With India committed to realising its target of becoming a $5 Trillion economy by 2024, accelerating the development and economic potential of the northeast is not only critical but inescapable to achieve the objective.
The Indian government has made a myriad of efforts to drive growth in the northeast including the latest initiative towards the creation of a North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) which seeks to promote industrialisation in the region, with emphasis on boosting employment and income generation in the manufacturing and service sectors. The State venture, Northeastern Development Finance Corporation Opportunity Scheme for Small Enterprises (NoSSE) has been formulated to help first-generation entrepreneurs who are short of equity.
In India women, entrepreneurship is yet to reach the kind of proportion that the western countries have witnessed. In the “Women Business Ownership” Index, India ranks 49 among 54 economies globally with comparatively low in Women Business Ownership percentages. Especially, the Women in the North Eastern Region face challenges in the form of lack of access to quality education, domestic responsibilities, inadequate exposure to technology, lack of access to funds and training in a specific sector coupled with stringent business and government regulations are some key impediments that have left entrepreneurship just a dream for the women of the North East.
The fact that North-East Indian states account for only 4% of the total establishment by women entrepreneurs in the whole country paints a very dismal picture and begs for intervention from the highest level. The North Eastern States are rich with abundant natural resources with ample scope for agro-based industries, handloom, handicrafts, dairy industry, organic fruit and vegetable processing to name a few which are tailor-made for women entrepreneurs. However, the potential of these resources to become a commercially viable business operation is yet to be fully realized.
The structural problems that plague the system also contribute to this below-par contribution from women entrepreneurs from the NE Region. Inadequate training facilities in the region, lack of awareness about the various government schemes available for women entrepreneurs and absence of basic amenities such as uninterrupted electricity, potable water, connectivity to transit produced goods, lack of storage facilities and processing plants too have been contributing to the same. To add up these existing bottlenecks, one of the most challenging aspects that women entrepreneurs face in this region is easy to access to working capital. More than 80% of business operations set up by women entrepreneurs have been shut down within six months due to lack of capital to sustain the operations.
The tide has been changing for the better over the past few years as both Central and State Governments have not only announced a large number of schemes to encourage women entrepreneurs but also have implemented them in reality. The following are some of the schemes by the Government agencies as well as financial institutions that are directly helping the women to establish their ventures:
| S.No. | Name of agency | Name of Scheme | Details |
| 1. | Ministry of MSME | MSE Cluster Development Programme | Contributes 90% of the total project cost |
| 2. | Ministry of MSME | Trade-Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development Scheme for women (TREAD) | a. 30% of the project cost to the NGOs for entrepreneurship among women b. Up to Rs.1 lakh per programme to training institutions / NGOs for imparting training to the women entrepreneurs |
| 3. | North Eastern Development Finance Corporation | Women Enterprises Development Scheme | a. To provide financial assistance to women entrepreneurs. b. Maximum 75% of the project cost as Term Loan not exceeding 15 lakhs. c. 8% interest with a repayment term of 3-7 years. |
| 4. | Small Industries Development Bank of India(SIDBI) | Mahila Udhayam Nidhi | The scheme Provides equity support to women entrepreneurs for setting up projects in Tiny and Small Scale Industries for up to 50 Lakhs. |
| 5. | Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region | Women Enterprise Development | a. The Scheme provides financial assistance to woman entrepreneurs b. Existing businesses will also be eligible for expansion, modernisation and diversification. c. To provide financial assistance to women entrepreneurs d. Maximum 75% of the project cost as Term Loan not exceeding 15 Lakhs |
In addition to Government agencies, commercial banks are also providing numerous schemes for women entrepreneurs. Stree Sakthi Package of the State Bank of India, Akshaya MahilaArthik Sahay Yojna by the Bank of Baroda, Udyogini Scheme by the Punjab & Sind Bank to name a few.
The sun is shining bright on the terrain and a lot of women entrepreneurs from the North East have made giant strides in their chosen domain of business. Rita Tage of Arunachal Pradesh who went on to make the first organic wine out of Kiwi Fruit, Shubra Devi of Manipur who started with a meagre investment has already attained a turn over of 1 Crore through her packaged food company; Meira Foods, Archita Ray of Tripura who started with a small poultry business now delivers poultry products to the entire North East.
With more and more success stories emerging from humble dwellings, the Women Entrepreneurship of North East has taken wings. A collective push from all the concerned stakeholders will help the aspiring women entrepreneurs to realise their potential skills and achieve rapid socio-economic development of the Northeast region.
– Mr. Kandavel Murugan
