International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET)

Volume 11, Issue 11, November 2020, pp. 2537-2544, Article ID: IJARET_11_11_252
Available online at https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJARET?Volume=11&Issue=11
ISSN Print: 0976-6480 and ISSN Online: 0976-6499
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/U8DW

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF WOMEN

ENTREPRENEURS IN TAMIL NADU
Dr. P. Natarajamurthy
Associate Professors, Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University,
Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India

Dr. N. Prasanna
Associate Professors, Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University,
Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT
Development of an economy depends to a great extent upon highly motivated people,
rightly termed as entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks for achieving tangible
goals. An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, facing many risks
and enjoying most of the rewards. Women entrepreneurs think of a business enterprise,
initiate it, organise and combine factors of production and contribute their best to the
nation. Women in the digital era are growing rapidly and view entrepreneurship as a
challenge to prove their powers, to do something meaningful in life and become
economically independent. Women’s entry into business, or entrepreneurship, is traced
out as an extension of their kitchen activities mainly to 3 Ps i.e. pickles, powder and
pepped.
According to World Bank estimates, among working-age women 75 per cent of (35%
of India’s working-age population) currently do not have paid for their household work.
Besides women representing 42 per cent of the agricultural labour force in India,
women own just 2 per cent of farmland. In India there are 13.5 to 15.7 million women-
owned enterprises, representing 20 per cent of all enterprises. In this context, this paper
discusses about the economic conditions of women entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu. For
the study among 38 districts in Tamil Nadu, Dindigul district is in the category of most
backward districts as declared by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in 2006. Hence the
Dindigul district was chosen for the study.
Key words: Women Entrepreneurs, Economic, business
Cite this Article: P. Natarajamurthy and N. Prasanna, Economic Conditions of Women
Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu, International Journal of Advanced Research in
Engineering and Technology (IJARET), 11(11), 2020, pp. 2537-2544.
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 Economic Conditions of Women Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu

1. INTRODUCTION
Development of an economy depends to a great extent of highly motivated people, who rightly
termed as entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks for achieving perceptible goals.
An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, facing many risks and enjoying
most of the rewards. According to J.B. Say "the term entrepreneur, means a person who
discharges the entrepreneurial function of a co-ordination, organisation supervision and risk-
bearing (Katz, H.C et al, 1985). Max Weber (1946) defines an entrepreneur by elaborating his
qualities of an innovator, a Calvinist, a man with unusual will and energy and a man with no
capital but endowed with an unusually strong character, clarity of vision and an ability to act.
An entrepreneur is essentially a creative or a person taking initiative.
But, the women in the digital era are growing rapidly and view entrepreneurship as a
challenge to prove their powers, to do something meaningful in life and become economically
independent. Women’s entry into business, or entrepreneurship, is traced out as an extension of
their kitchen activities mainly to 3 Ps i.e. pickles, powder and pepped.
According to World Bank estimates, among working-age group women 75 per cent of (35%
of India’s working-age population) currently do not have remunerated for their household work.
Only 59 per cent of women have access to mobile phones, with low internet diffusion rate of
19 per cent, and only 35 per cent of women using their bank accounts aggressively. Of the
approximately 432 million working age women in India, about 343 million are not in paid
formal work. An estimated 324 million of these women are not in the labor force; and another
19 million are in the labor force but not employed. Besides women representing 42 per cent of
the agricultural labour force in India, women own just 2 per cent of farmland

2. WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP GROWTH IN INDIA

Although, half of India's population consists of women, the species of woman entrepreneur was
almost ignored of, both policy-wise and in practice in the bygone decades. The Industrial Policy
resolution of 1978 which recognized the women entrepreneurs as a special group need special
assistance and support in indefinite terms, and that too as a development to the declaration of
the International Decade of Women during 1975-85 and the International Conference of
Women Entrepreneurs held at Delhi in 1984. As a result, Government of India has also brought
a modification in its policy and objective of welfare approach of women to development
approach of women. Women were given significances in all the sectors including small scale
industries sector. In the last two decades of time, the number of women entrepreneurs has
increased. They not only move in business in a small way but volunteered into starting and
managing large enterprises on professional lines and working hard to sustain and survive in the
competing environment
During 1980s, government and non-government bodies had given increasing attention to
women entrepreneurs through framing of various policies and programmes and introduced
many new schemes and incentives. It adopted a multi- disciplinary approach for development
of women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs were given top priorities for implementation of
programmes under agricultural and its allied activities of dairy farming, poultry, animal
husbandry, handlooms, handicrafts and small scale industries, etc.
In the nineties, out of the total women population of 437.10 million, there are 126.48 million
women workforce, out of which only 1,85,900 women are self-employed in the country. This
shows a dismally low level of women participation in the entrepreneurial activities. Further
women entrepreneurs in India accounted for 9.01 Percentage of the total 1.70 million
entrepreneurs during 1988-89. There were more than 2, 95,680 women entrepreneurs claiming
11.2 Percentage of the total 2.64 million entrepreneurs in India during 1995-96. The number of
women entrepreneurs has increased to 3, 28,000 in 1996-97.

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 P. Natarajamurthy and N. Prasanna

During the ninth five-year plan, the government has introduced an important scheme on
Trade Related Entrepreneurship of Assistance and Development (TREAD) aiming at economic
empowerment of women in rural, semi-urban and urban areas in 1998. It develops their
entrepreneurial skill and eliminates the constraints faced by women entrepreneurs.

3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Women in India normally will hesitate much to start the enterprise due to social and cultural
impediments. However, their deep-seated need for a sense of independence along with a desire
to do something expressive use of their time and to have their own identity instead of residing
behind the shadow of their husband/father, made them to become an entrepreneur.
Most women business owners in India are either housewives or fresh graduates without any
previous experience of running a business. These women business owners are in traditionally
women-oriented business like garments, beauty care, and fashion designing, which either do
not require any formalised training or developed from a hobby or an interest into a business.
The basic requirement in development of women entrepreneurship is to make aware the
women regarding her existence, her unique identity and her contribution towards the economic
growth and development of country. With this idea the researcher proposed to carry out a study
on Women Entrepreneurs in Dindigul District.

4. OBJECTIVE
To identify the current status of women entrepreneur in Tamil Nadu.

5. METHODOLOGY
The present research was conducted in Dindigul district. Dindigul district is an administrative
region in the south of Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the newly carved districts of Tamilnadu.
The district was created out of composite Madurai District in 1985. Dindigul district is also
named as one of the of the country's most backward districts out of 640 districts of the country
as declared by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj In 2006. 1It is one of the six districts in Tamil
Nadu currently receiving funds from Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

6. EMPIRICAL LITERATURE
Numerous thinkers albeit have defined the concept of entrepreneurship variously, there is an
ambiguity in arriving at consensus on the concept of entrepreneurship still.
Lalitha Rani. D (1996) in her study on women entrepreneurs, made an in depth analysis of
a number of aspects relating to women entrepreneurs in Vishakhapatnam city of Andhra
Pradesh. 100 women entrepreneurs, 30 in manufacturing, 36 in trading and 34 in service
enterprises in the small-scale sector were covered in the study with the objectives to study the
socio-economic background, the motivational factors behind women entrepreneurship, the
work-home role conflict women entrepreneurs face and its effect on entrepreneurial
performance and the performance of enterprises and identify the problems faced by them. Large
number of women entrepreneurs migrated to Vishakhapatnam owing to husband’s or fathers’
business or job.
N. Manimekalai et al. (2000) did their research on “Nature of women Entrepreneurs in
Tiruchirapalli “with the aim to understand the nature of the enterprises and the hurdles faced at
the global level on the basis of the studies made in different areas and to analyze the nature of
entrepreneurial activities at micro level in Tiruchirpalli as well to examine the performance of
the sample units and their problems in successfully running the enterprise. The problems faced
included mostly shortage of capital and lack of seed capital to expand business. Strikingly

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 Economic Conditions of Women Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu

enough, nearly 50 per cent of them opined that they did not face any problems it appeared that
problems were not considered very seriously.
Nagendra Kumar Jha (2012) has taken up his research study “Development of Women
Entrepreneurship-Challenges and Opportunities- A Case Study of Bihar” with the objectives to
identify the problems of women entrepreneurs, examine the level of the women entrepreneurs,
ascertain the preferred types and ownership pattern of their industrial activities as well to
analyze the socio demographic traits of the women entrepreneurs. The data have been collected
through random samples with two hundred. This study shows that out of 200 women
entrepreneurs, 44.5 per cent were functioning under sole proprietorship, 51.5 per cent were
found under partnership and 4 per cent were in the form of Pvt. Ltd. Company.
Yadagiri. K. (2013), in his study on “Women Entrepreneurs in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh”
has observed the women participation in petty trading in rural areas. The study shows that the
lowest investment is being made by vegetable vendors and iron shop owners. In between these
two types of investment, the petty traders who are running hotels (Tea bunks) Kirana shops,
Pan shops etc., are investing around Rs.25000-65000 only. It is observed that the investment
levels are low in petty traders which are close to traditional occupations, and the higher
investment are needed to run modern traders. Moreover, 50 respondents have taken loans from
money lenders with high interest rates i.e. 48 percent and it gave a lot of trouble for the women
traders.
Deepak Kumar (2014) in his study on “Women entrepreneurship in India: Obstacles and
opportunities”. Objective of study was to identify the reasons for women for involving
themselves in entrepreneurial activities, to identify the obstacles for women entrepreneurship
and to identify the opportunities available for women entrepreneurs. The secondary data is
collected from review of past researches and other reports. Findings of this study shows
obstacles lack of confidence, socio cultural barrier, market oriented risk, motivational factors,
knowledge in business administration, awareness about the financial assistance, exposed to the
training program, identifying the available resources.
Veena. M., and Nagaraja. N, (2014) in their study “Problems faced by women
entrepreneurs in Mysore District” data was collected from 240 women entrepreneurs to
understand the importance of women entrepreneurial opportunity for economic expression
through activity in economy. The study, identified major problems faced by women
entrepreneurs in Mysore is Financial constraint, Inadequate Institutional support, Problems in
Marketing, Social Attitude, Non- availability of good workers/employees.

7. ANALYSIS
Political and economic transformations seem to be occurring everywhere-as countries convert
from command to demand economies, dictatorships move toward democracy, and monarchies
build new civil institutions. These changes have created economic opportunities for women
who want to own and operate businesses. The New Industrial Policy of the Government of India
had laid special emphasis on the need for conducting special entrepreneurial training
programmes for women to enable them to start their own ventures. In this context this chapter
analysis the current status of women as entrepreneur.

Table 1 Distribution of Respondents by their Annual Income

Sl. No Annual Income No. of Respondents Percentage
1 Less than 1 lakh 14 15.6
2 1lakh –2 lakhs 74 82.2
3 Above 3 lakhs 2 2.2
Total 90 100
Source: Computed from Primary Data

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 P. Natarajamurthy and N. Prasanna

Income is money that an individual or business receives in exchange for providing a good
or service or through investing capital in a given period of time. It serves as a base for day-to-
day expenditures and being an indicator of economic wellbeing of an individual. To assess the
relationship between economic conditions and entrepreneurial activities of women
entrepreneurs of Dindugal district, the information pertaining to the income was sought as
perceived by the respondents themselves. The data presented in the above table No-4.9)
elucidates that vast majority of the respondents (82.2%) have had income of 1Lakh to 2 Lakhs
and very meager percentage (2.2%) alone did have income more than 3 Llakhs
Remaining 15.6% earned less than one Lakh. This shows that entrepreneurial activities of
the women entrepreneurs of Dindugal district have elevated their individual economic positions
to the APL (Above Poverty Line). As per the estimates made by planning commission during
the year 2005-2006, the poverty line in monetary terms (i.e. Rs. Per capita per month) had been
worked out as Rs. 368 in rural area and Rs. 560 in urban area. Upon this definition, if our
respondent’s annual income is compared, we could see the elevation of our respondents to APL.

Table 2 Distribution of Respondents by the Occupation of Spouse and Father

Sl. No Father’s occupation Father’s occupation Husband‘s
occupation
1 Agriculture 40 (44.4%) 9 (10 %)
2 Trader 3 (3.3%) 14 (15.6%)
3 Industrialist (Business) 1 (1.1%) 6 (6.7%)
4 Employment in public Sector 2 (2.2%) 4 (4.4%)
5 Employment in private Sector 11 (12.2%) 25 (27.8%)
6 Daily Wage Earner 30 (36.7%) 17 (18.8%)
7 Unmarried - 15(16.6%)
Total 90(100%) 90(100%)
Source: Computed from Primary Data
Family occupation has a significant impact on their children’s lively hood activities.
Especially; the economic activity of the head of the family has its own influence on their wards
and entrepreneurs are not an exception to this. Parent’s who always serve and set a role model
to their offspring’s subjects them to have plenty of vicarious experience despite of their age.
This will influence the behaviour and performance of the wards heavily. The greater the
similarities between the role model and the observer, the more persuasive are the role model’s
successes and failures. If people see the role models as very different from themselves, their
perceived self-efficacy will not be heavily influenced by the model’s behaviour and
performance. Hence, parents are persuasive as role models because the child can assume close
similarity4 . Hence, a question was shot to know the employment history of both husbands’ and
parents. The data in the above table (No: 4.10) reveals that less than half of the subject’s parents
(44.4%) were involved in agriculture whereas only 10% of the spouse was in it. Anent “trade”
was concerned, spouse (15.6%) percentage has outnumbered parents (3.3%) of the subjects.
Same is the case with regard to business too. With regard to daily wage earners were concerned
fathers of the respondents have outnumbered (36.7%) the spouse (18.8%0 of the subjects.
Women in Indian were having social and cultural impediments to start the enterprise. But
the transgression of values and the changing socio-economic conditions altered the grim
scenario drastically and opened new vista in social structural issues of women. The
transformation of the social fabric of Indian society in terms of increased literacy among women
and varied aspirations for better status, have witnessed a growing volume of unemployment.
This problem necessitates a change in the life style of women in the country. Self-employment
was recognised as panacea, which generates a category of entrepreneurs, who own economic
enterprises at micro and macro levels. These women business owners entered in to women-

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 Economic Conditions of Women Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu

oriented business like garments, beauty care, and fashion designing, which either do not require
any formalised training or developed from a hobby or an interest into a business. The table
No.4.12 reiterates the entrepreneurial statuses of our respondents as whether belongs to first
generation entrepreneur or second generation.

Table 3 Distribution of Respondents by their Entrepreneurial Statuses

Sl. No First women Entrepreneur No. of Respondents Percentage

First Generation 71 78.8

1 Entrepreneurs
Parents as Entrepreneurs 3 3.3
2
Husband as Entrepreneurs 16 17.8
3
Total 90 100
Source: Computed from Primary Data
The data presented in the table indicates that very vast majority of the respondents (94.4%)
were of first generation and only very meager percentage (5.6%) of the respondents hail
from the second generation. Though vast majority of the respondents did not have any
background to be an entrepreneur, their deep-seated need for a sense of independence along
with a desire to do something meaningful with their time and to have their own identity
instead of remaining behind the shadow of their husband, made them to become an
entrepreneur.
In starting a business in India, choosing the right forms of business organization is
important. Each type of organization has its own merits and demerits. The right choice of the
forms of business organization is very crucial because it determines the power, control, risk and
responsibility of the entrepreneur as well as the division of profits and losses. Being a long term
commitment, the choice of the form of business should be made after considerable thought and
deliberation. The choice of the form of business is governed by several interrelated and
interdependent factors such as nature of business; scale of operation, capital requirements and
liabilities as well as the willingness of the owners to bear it is also an important consideration
in choosing the right business entity.

Table 4 Distribution of respondents by forms of business organization

Sl. No Forms of Business No. of Respondents Percentage
1 Sole Proprietorship 70 77.7
2 Partnership with others 1 1.1
Joint Hindu FamilyBusiness 19 21.1
3
Total 90 100
Source: Computed from Primary Data
The above table elucidates the classification of different forms of organization being
maintained by our respondents in the research universe. The data presented in the table reveals
that vast majority of the respondents (77.7%) did run their enterprise under the form of sole
Proprietorship. A sole proprietorship company is a form of the organization managed and
owned by a single person. This form of organization is the most popular business entity in
India as these forms known for easy start-up, easy compliances as well to have utmost control
over the organization for which our study area was not an exception. Moreover, 21.1%, 1.1%
comes under Joint Hindu Family Business and Partnership with others respectively. As per the
Six Economic Census, out of 58.50 million establishments, around 96.4% establishments were

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 P. Natarajamurthy and N. Prasanna

under private ownership and remaining 3.6% establishments reported their ownership as
Government or PSU.

8. SUGGESTION AND CONCLUSION

For the development of women entrepreneurs and their greater participation in the
entrepreneurial activities right efforts from all spheres are required. Following suggestion can
be taken into account for effective development of women entrepreneurs.
Women have to be considering as specific target group for all developmental programmes.
Better schemes and programmes should be extended to women folk from government part to
motivate them to start not only Micro levels enterprises but also Small and Medium and large
scale business.
Specific and adequate training programme on the business activities selected by the women
entrepreneurs’ management should be extended apart from the training programme that imparts
management skills to be provided to women folk. Encourage women's participation in decision-
making.
Training on professional competence and leadership skill to be extended to women
entrepreneurs. Training and counselling on a large scale of existing women entrepreneurs to
remove psychological causes like lack of self- confidence and fear of success. Counselling
through the aid of committed NGOs, psychologists, managerial experts and technical personnel
should be provided to existing and emerging women entrepreneurs. Continuous monitoring and
improvement of training programmes.
Activities in which women are trained should focus on their marketability and profitability.
Making provision of marketing and sales assistance from government side. To encourage more
passive women entrepreneurs, the Women training programme should be organised that taught
to recognize her own psychological needs and express them. State finance corporations and
financing institutions should permit by statute to extend purely trade related finance to women
entrepreneurs.
The Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs based on women participation
in equity and employment of a business enterprise. Accordingly, a woman entrepreneur is
defined as an enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum financial interest
of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of the employment generated in the enterprise to
a woman.
Women constitute almost half of the total population in India but they are not enjoying their
freedoms, equalities, privileges, on par with their male counterparts. Since implementation of
planning in India, several policies and approaches were made to reduce inequalities between
women and men. As a result a shift from ‘welfare’ to ‘development’ to ‘empowerment’ to
‘human development’ approaches has taken place to change the position and status of women.
Both government and NGO’s sectors were intervening to empower the women. The National
Empowerment Policy, 2001 also emphasized that women’s economic empowerment may be
visualized only with the development of women entrepreneurship.

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