Female-led startups are set to boom in India over subsequent few years

The overall number of companies with a female founder that raised initial funding round in the last five years almost doubled to nearly 9,900, according to a report. Even so, only 3% of invested dollars went to female-only founders in 2019, the same percentage as in 2010

Female-led startups are set to boom in India over subsequent few years

The employment situation for women is about to enhance as startups and medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) decide to build up hiring of female employees within the coming months, shows a survey by community platform LocalCircles. Startups led by women aren't in the majority. The entrepreneur space is mainly dominated by men, which will change soon according to a survey.

About 43 percent of the 7,000 respondents said they conceive to hire women employees over the subsequent six months. On the flip side, the survey also shows that women workers were among the worst within the workforce adjustments made by businesses within the last eight months because the covid-19 pandemic affected their business and revenue adversely.

A large number of startups and MSMEs had reduced their workforce, with 31 percent of them reducing their women workforce. Moreover, not one business reported an increase in the amount of women employees during the eight months of the covid-19 pandemic.

A more concerning insight to have kicked off of the survey is that 23 percent of respondent enterprises said that they had no women within the workforce before the pandemic hit and don’t have now either. A recent study by the Reserve Bank of India shows that solely women-led only around 5.9% of startups during 2019. India ranks 52 out of 57 countries on the Index of women entrepreneurs 2019.

The survey said, “The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among women in India, is one of rock bottom within the planet and appears to have slid even further during the COVID-19 pandemic,”

Of the entire surveyed respondents, 7 percent said women in their workforce are reduced by 50-100 percent, 12 percent said women employees have reduced by 25-50 percent and 12 percent said the reduction has been up to 25 percent.

“With growth coming back in many sectors, and given that Work from Home has become a new normal for many of the technology-driven businesses and white-collar jobs, even in traditional businesses, it's likely to assist more women to find job opportunities within the coming months,” the survey stated.

The increasing presence of women as entrepreneurs will lead to a change in the demographic characteristics of the business and economic growth of the country. Women-owned businesses enterprises will play a prominent role in society inspiring others and generating more employment opportunities in the country. There is a need for sustainable growth of women entrepreneurs, to market a balanced growth within the country.