WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Emergence of women entrepreneurs has led to an engendered perspective in realm of entrepreneurship. Women entrepreneurship is closely intertwined with instrumental societal and economic benefits. Despite the fact that women constitute nearly half of the population in India, their participation in entrepreneurial activities remains severely limited. The study is an attempt to decipher the concept, profile and dynamics of women entrepreneurship in India, so the study aims at analysing the prevalence of women entrepreneurship in India. The criteria for selecting the existing research on the topic included highly cited research studies on Women entrepreneurship specifically in the Indian context. Most recent research studies available on Google Scholar, EBSCO and Proquest have been selected for the purpose of review. Sex disaggregated databases on women entrepreneurship published by Government of India and global publications are analysed for tracing the emergence of women entrepreneurs in India. The synthesis of review of the literature brought forth the diversified profile of women entrepreneurs in India. Women entrepreneurs are a heterogeneous segment belonging to different age groups and demographic background. They are also confronted with various gender specific and gender neutral challenges during the course of establishing and operating their ventures. Entrepreneurial activity is quite low in India and is mostly concentrated in states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra. There is an urgent need to decode policy imperatives and interventions that can boost an engendered environment for women entrepreneurs in India.