Kolkata: West Bengal currently leads the country in women entrepreneurship in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.
The percentage of MSMEs owned by women across West Bengal stands at 62 per cent. Not only is this higher than the national average of 40 per cent, but it is the highest among all states and Union Territories.
This was informed by Rajesh Pandey, Principal Secretary, MSME & Textile Department, Government of West Bengal, at a FICCI platform focusing on innovation, knowledge and research amongst MSMEs.
There are more than 93 lakh people involved in the MSME sector in the state, with more than 60 per cent of them being women.
West Bengal has developed a cluster-based MSME ecosystem. The state is especially focusing on the SIP projects and empowerment of women and workers to further the growth this sector.
In the last decade, there has been a 22 per cent increase in loan distribution amongst MSMEs. This has particularly helped women through the various SHGs to shine in the MSME sector.
In this current financial year, the total corpus of loans to be distributed among MSMEs could cross Rs 2 lakh crore.
Nationally, 12.73 per cent of the total female workforce in the MSME sector nationwide is from West Bengal.
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