Gender Disparity: Only 14% of entrepreneurs in India are women

In India, women constitute just 14% of entrepreneurs, overseeing 20% of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) among 58.5 million enterprises.

According to the State of India’s Livelihood Report by Access Publications, despite contributing 3.09% to industrial output and employing 10% of workers, the country ranks 57 out of 65 for women's entrepreneurship globally, with only 2.16% of women participating in early-stage entrepreneurial activities.

A recent NITI Aayog study reveals that over 99% of Indian MSMEs operate in the micro sector, where more than 99% of women-owned enterprises are single-person micro-businesses, with only 17% employing workers, mostly fewer than 6.

Entrepreneurship in India spans self-employed home-based workers to medium enterprises, often driven by economic necessity, mobility restrictions and childcare needs. Experts argue that discriminatory financial institutions and the nature of their work hinder women's networking and visibility.

A UN Women's assessment quoted in the report suggests that “women's entrepreneurship tends to be necessity-driven, concentrated in low-risk segments and fewer sectors which are not too growth-oriented and tap into the local environment that allows them to bypass financial, regulatory and technical constraints.”

Despite India being the world's third-largest startup ecosystem, women's representation remains low, constituting only 35% of employees in startups. In 2018, just 9% were startup founders, declining to 5 out of 136 unicorn founders in 2021.

Only 14% of tech unicorns have at least one female founder, with 90% of women entrepreneurs relying on informal financing due to formal institutions serving only 10%.

India has gone from 3,000 start-ups in 2014 to over around 11,000 in 2020. Yet, women remain under-represented. The number of start-ups with at least one female founder declined from 17% in 2018 to 12% in 2019.

In 2021, only 5 out of 136 unicorn founders were women and only 14% of tech unicorns have at least one female founder.