Budget 2022 Expectations: ‘Women-led businesses need support with interest-free loans, working capital’

With the Union Budget, expectations come along. And just like all the other sectors of the country waiting for the budget with great expectations, even the women entrepreneurs are eagerly waiting for it with the hope in their eyes for the growth of the country.

Every woman is expecting growth and hence support from the government and the budget is necessary. According to the World Bank estimate, India has one of the lowest female labor force participation in the world. Female labor participation has fallen from 26% in 2005 to 20.3% in 2019. The past two years have severely affected the world as well as our country. The process of recovery from the aftermath of the pandemic is a time-consuming one. Every sector has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic backlash of the pandemic has been felt by economies globally. The nature of the economy and geopolitics has been changing and the same has been witnessed by the world. The World Bank has even held on to the expectations on the growth and expansion of the Indian economy to 8.3 percent in the fiscal year 2021-22 (ending in March 2022) which is like the forecast from June 2021.

The support extended to the MSMEs under the Atmanirbhar Bharat has helped the nation to safeguard itself from the hard-hit of the pandemic. Women deserve to be supported equally for their start-ups and new ventures which they take on. Women-led businesses require more support and encouragement in order to help India raise the bar in the world of business. Strong educational opportunities and support must be provided to women in sectors other than traditional women-dominated sectors to widen their horizons and enhance opportunities. Increasing focus on investments and finance is a must in the current era. Women should be motivated to hone new skills from an early age. Incubation centers need to be set up for the women of our country in order to provide them with an environment where they learn everything from the idea of the business, then the business inception to maturity stages through networking.

Budget 2021 undoubtedly created a positive buzz in the market, focusing on the revival of the country and an Atmanirbhar Bharat. It focused on FDI in insurance, raising the bar for education, New Education Policy (NEP), ease of doing business, etc. but vulnerable women’s livelihood wasn’t seen to be a priority of the Union Budget 2021. The budget had the provisions, but the expected outcomes were not experienced in the case of supporting women-led businesses and MSMEs. Meeta Nagpal, Founder of Musical Dreams has shared her wishlist for the upcoming budget:

Startup Support From Government:
An increase in the investment in guidance and finance is much needed for the growth of women and the country. Women-led businesses should be provided more support and encouragement. They lack support from society, family, and lastly from the government as well to some extent. The government can help the women-led MSMEs and startups by providing them with interest-free loans and working capital. Startup support from the government is something that would help the women of India, not let their dreams die an unnatural death. Their innovative startup ideas are looking forward to some support and in case the same is provided, every mastermind has the potential of proving their might. India can witness a hike in the number of women entrepreneurs emerging all over. 

Academic Incubation Centers:
The academic incubation centers, if enabled in the colleges serving education to women, can prove to be helpful by supporting the innovative ideas and prototypes which are created by the students. The budget can have provisions for the funding of such innovative ideas of students. With the funding, the female students would not only gain the confidence of keeping their innovation upfront but also would come out to be great entrepreneurs. The masterminds would work on their start-up ideas, choose the pathway for starting their own businesses and be the one among the leading entrepreneurs of the nation in the coming times.

Recognition Practice Beyond Education:
Women must learn new skills and adapt to the changing scenarios to tap new opportunities. In accordance with New Education Policy (NEP), 360 degrees progress tracking of the students is done with the help of report cards. Additionally, a strong emphasis has been given to the extra-curricular activities as compared to professional streams in schools. A high degree of importance has been given to literacy and numeracy as well. The new structure came up with the 5+3+3+4 foundation formula.

These steps taken by the government made it a bit more convenient for the students to grow themselves in different aspects and nourish the latent talents that they possess such as dance, music, yoga, etc. These are the sectors in which the children of our nation would get exposure to grow. Even the focus towards developing the structure in a bit more enhanced manner is expected and with the thrust of creating and initiating a more innovative starting at the college levels. The NEP has successfully created great enthusiasm and excitement in the education sector. Strong educational opportunities are expected for the women in sectors other than the traditional women-dominated sectors like heathy, hygiene, etc. with the Union Budget.

Multiple mechanisms of the Budget in 2021 helped in creating better opportunities for start-up businesses across various sectors like hygiene, health, and sustainability around the nation. The innovative Indian start-ups have won the big league by creating 46 unicorns in the year 2021, which is almost double of 2020. India is now one of the three largest unicorn hubs in the world along with China and the UK. It is heartening to acknowledge the fact that 13 women-led unicorns were there in India in the year 2021 from which 8 women-led unicorns had newly emerged in the year 2021 itself.

The budget is expected to make interactive provisions for funding for innovative prototypes and ideas by the students and enable the academic incubation centers in the colleges providing education to female students, which simultaneously help the women establish their own start-ups.

Women of this amazing nation are looking forward with dreaming eyes to the Union Budget 2022 with hopes of establishing themselves and their start-ups. The upfront support in terms of interest-free loans and working capitals would be beneficial for the women-led MSMEs and start-ups which would provide the women with employment opportunities and make the women eligible for creating job opportunities for all, instead of just being the job seekers. The budget can evenly help the corporations, institutions, and firms by providing additional incentives in terms of employability for the employers who hire, upskill and support women as a part of their workforce. It would prove to be one of the best ways of increasing the opportunities for women’s participation and engagement in the workforce