10 Crore+ Women Mobilised into 90 Lakh SHGs Under DAY-NRLM

By: WE staff | Friday, 12 September 2025

• More than 10 crore women have been organized into 90 lakh self-help groups (SHGs) in India under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana
• A lot of them have become first-generation entrepreneurs through the programme

The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) has included more than 10 Crores women within 90 lakhs self-help groups (SHGs) across India, with a good majority of them being first-generation entrepreneurs, a government official said.

Shailesh Kumar Singh, Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) Secretary, referred to the incubator programme as a contributor to motivate women's rural entrepreneurship.

He cited the successful pilot programs conducted in Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, and Karnataka, and stated that Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and other states are now taking the program to scale with leading academic partners.

A two-day National Workshop on Rural Enterprise Incubators under DAY-NRLM was organized in Kerala in association with the Kerala State Rural Livelihood Mission (Kudumbashree).

MB Rajesh, State Minister for Local Self-Government, inaugurating the programme, emphasized Kerala's focus on empowering women entrepreneurship through Kudumbashree with a hope to initiate collaboration and innovation to create a strong rural enterprise ecosystem.

Swati Sharma, Joint Secretary (RL), MoRD, India, enunciated the vision of the Ministry to expand the incubator programme as a national program for women rural entrepreneurship, and added that the workshop would yield actionable suggestions and close partnerships to facilitate long-term success.

The workshop seeks to develop an enabling ecosystem for enterprises selected for the incubator project.

The conference had panel discussions on issues ranging from mentoring, financing, and technology to market access and convergence.

Distinguished academics, industry representatives, and social enterprise network professionals attended and shared their insights and suggestions to facilitate the growth of rural enterprise incubation across states.

Felicitation address was given by Assam Agricultural University Vice Chancellor Dr. Bidyut C. Dekha, and Kudumbashree Executive Director H. Dineshan welcomed the guests.