Progress or distress? Track the rise of women-led informal businesses

New Budget schemes seek to improve market access, scaling of operations for women-related ventures

The Union Budget on Tuesday pushed for economic empowerment of women.

The government will encourage women’s participation in the workforce through skilling programmes, and it will promote market access for women self-help group enterprises, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech.

This comes even as more women have set up their own small unincorporated businesses after the pandemic, shows a Business Standard analysis of data from a government survey seen as a proxy for the informal economy. The share of female-owned proprietary ventures in unincorporated businesses increased to 22.9 per cent in 2022-23. It was