MSME Ministry launches ‘SAMARTH’ to promote women entrepreneurship

A day ahead of the International Women’s Day, the MSME Ministry on Monday launched SAMARTH — a special entrepreneurship promotion drive for women.

Addressing the launch event, Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Narayan Rane said the MSME sector offers a plethora of opportunities for women. He highlighted that the MSME Ministry, through its schemes and initiatives, is continuously making efforts to develop entrepreneurship culture among women by offering several additional benefits to them.

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Rane announced that the drive will help women to be self-reliant and independent by providing them with self-employment opportunities. Under SAMARTH, 20 per cent seats in free skill development programmes, organised under skill development schemes of the ministry, will be allocated for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs.

This will benefit more than 7,500 women in 2022-23. Moreover, 20 per cent of MSME business delegations sent to domestic and international exhibitions under the schemes for marketing assistance implemented by ministry will be dedicated to women-owned MSMEs. Women entrepreneurs can also avail a 20 per cent discount on annual processing fee on commercial schemes of the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) in 2022-23.