Amit Shah Launches She-Mart to Empower Women in Kollam

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Monday, 28 September 2026

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah launched several initiatives focused on women empowerment and the cooperative sector at the Pavithram Convention Centre in Kollam, Kerala, on September 26, 2026. The initiatives aim to strengthen the rural economy, improve market opportunities for women entrepreneurs and enhance the contribution of cooperatives to economic growth.

Among the key initiatives was Vanitham She-Mart, which seeks to connect women self-help groups (SHGs) and rural women entrepreneurs directly with markets and consumers. Amit Shah said the initiative would support women-led businesses across different stages of the value chain, including procurement, processing, branding, packaging and retail marketing. More than 300 She-Mart stores are planned across Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, along with over 2,500 NCCF retail outlets.

Amit Shah also highlighted Kerala’s extensive cooperative network, comprising more than 23,000 cooperative institutions. He said this ecosystem could create further opportunities for women entrepreneurs and farmers by encouraging participation in areas such as dairy, seeds, organic agriculture and fisheries. He also pointed to Kerala’s potential in the Blue Economy, supported by its coastline, backwaters, rivers and maritime sector.

Key Highlights:

• Amit Shah launched Vanitham She-Mart to support women entrepreneurs and self-help groups
• More than 300 She-Mart stores will be established across three southern states
• The program also launched NCCF products, seed kits and scholarships for farmers’ daughters

Amit Shah started the sale of NCCF's ‘Janah' products and remotely opened the ‘Vanitham She-Mart' shops developed by the NCCF and the Central Financial Credit and Investment Co-operative (India) Limited during the program. There was also an opportunity to purchase Bharat Atta and Bharat Rice from She-Mart outlets. MoUs were signed on integration of fisheries in the supply-chain with Janah fisheries brand of NCCF and for setting up 300 She-Mart stores in the three southern states.

NCCF mobile vans and the free urad & gram seed kits under Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses were also flagged-off to provide onions at Rs. 35/-kg to the women farmers. Daughters of registered farmers were also felicitated with the presentation of scholarship cheques as per the NAFED-Kalyan Scholarship Scheme.

Amit Shah also spoke about the measures taken by the government towards the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of women, such as giving women bank accounts, access to the workforce and the Lakhpati Didi program. The minister gave these during his speech and these are from the government's own assessment of the success of the government's Women Empowerment programs.

The program strengthened the emphasis on the role of cooperation institutions and market oriented platforms as opportunities for women entrepreneurs and rural producers. The She-Mart program will help to boost the linkage between the farmers and the consumers and extend the cooperative retail network, in addition to the NCCF and NAFED programs.

The introduction of Vanitham She-Mart in Keralam is another step in the cooperative market access programs to women SHGs and rural entrepreneurs, and a new NCCF and NAFED program for farmers, consumers and women entrepreneurs.