Women Entrepreneurship and MSME in North India

There is growing evidence all over the world that in developing countries like India and China micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have played an important role in the growth of economy because of their potential contributions to employment creation, improvement of income distribution, poverty reduction, and export growth of manufactured products. Beside these contributions, MSMEs are also considered as significant place for women, especially in rural areas, to be actively involved in economic activities, not only as hired workers but, more importantly as entrepreneurs. The main objective of this paper is to examine development of women entrepreneurs in MSMEs in India. The paper makes an attempt to analyse women’s participation in entrepreneurial activities so as to highlight the contribution of women entrepreneurs towards economic development.