As per data collected by the Lok Sabha, the number of start-ups recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with at least one-woman director has increased 168 per cent between 2020 and 2022.
The data reveals that the national average for the increase of start-ups has been 105 per cent. The increasing trend of women in startups is due to the special incentives and flagship programmes offered by various private and state-funded incubators.
The Gujarat University Startup and Entrepreneurship Council (GUSEC) launched ‘herstart’, a start-up platform for women entrepreneurs with various projects related to education and tribal development. Annually, GUSEC supports more than 50 women led start-ups under diverse fields – right from textiles and education to technology and drones. The interim CEO of GUSEC mentioned that they had recently wrapped up a boot camp for the third cohort and that the response has been positive.
Although the numbers are steadily rising, experts say that trends need to be closely monitored - in terms of how are these start-ups functioning, are the woman co-founders just an exercise in inclusion or do they actually take decisions, and most importantly if they are able to gain the investor’s trust.