Lok Sabha Question No. 695 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-25
Subject: Sustainable Development by Women led Business Enterprises
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Parbatbhai Savabhai Patel, Geeta Kora, Pradeep Kumar Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 695 ANSWERED ON 25/07/2023

## SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BY WOMEN LED BUSINESS

## ENTERPRISES

## 695.  SHRI PARBATBHAI SAVABHAI PATEL:

SHRIMATI GEETA KORA:

SHRI PRADEEP KUMAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is necessary to brainstorm in present scenarios on the way women-owned and led business enterprises are doing sustainable development; and
- (b) the measures being taken by the ministry to take advantage of the business ventures, technology and finance of women selfhelp groups and to give more encouragement on market and business expansion across the country, particularly in Gujarat, Jharkhand and Bihar?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

- (a)     Yes  Sir,  A  national  level  consultation  on  the  promotion  of  womenowned and led business enterprises  was  organized  in  February  2023  by the  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  in  collaboration  with  the  Ministry  of Women  &  Child  Development  with  the  stakeholders  from  academia, corporate, development sector professionals, policy makers and implementers etc.
- (b)    The measures taken by the Ministry of Rural Development across all States/UTs to leverage the business ventures, technology, and finance of women  self-help  groups  (SHGs)  and  encourage  market  and  business expansion across the country, including in Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Bihar are as under :

(i)    Financial  Support:  DAY-NRLM  is  facilitating  Bank  credit  to  women SHGs. These SHGs further provide this fund to their members for various activities including  enterprise promotion. (ii)    Marketing Facilitation of SHG products: The Ministry in collaboration with Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has created 'SARAS Collection' as a  Store  Front  in  GeM  for  marketing  of  SHG  products.  Memorandum  of Understandings  (MoUs)  have  been  entered  on  2nd  November,  2021  and 12th  May,  2022  between  Ministry   and  Flipkart  Internet  Pvt.  Ltd.  and Amazon  respectively   to  allow  the  Self  Help  Group  (SHG)  producers including the artisans, weavers and craftsmen to access national markets through the Flipkart Samarth programme and Amazon Saheli initiative. An MoU has also been signed by the Ministry with Patanjali on 2nd November, 2022  for collaboration in various fields including online marketing of SHGs products. An e-Commerce platform (www.esaras.in) has also been launched by the Ministry for online marketing of SHG products. Recently, an MoU  has been  signed between MoRD and Fashnear Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Meesho) on February 16, 2023 for on-boarding and marketing of SHGs products. Further, some  States have also developed their own  eCommerce platform to support marketing of products of SHGs.In addition, marketing of SHG products is also carried out  though  SARAS Melas and Stores at National & State Level. (iii)  Producer Enterprises/Producer Groups: To support the SHG members for  market  access  for  their  farm  produce  through  aggregation  &  value addition, DAY-NRLM supports & facilitates the formation of the producers groups  at  village level and  large  enterprises  at District/Block level (iv)  Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP): A sub- scheme under DAY-NRLM develops an eco-system for supporting small businesses in  rural  areas.  The  eco-system  has  components  for  providing  business support services, mentorship, seed capital, training & capacity building on business plan  and marketing.

******