Constraints on Women Entrepreneurship Development in Kerala: An ...

ously a high degree of overlapping and duplication among the schemes. There exists no
custom-made industrial policy in the State. Even the well accepted bank schemes, such as the
KVIB (Khadi Village and Industries Board) which offers 30 percent margin money for women
industry, have ear-marked only five percent for women and Scheduled Castes / Tribes; they
do not have anything specifically allocated to women either.
Moreover, all these schemes seem to be based on the premise that the main constraint for
women entrepreneurs is lack of access to credit / capital. It is not uncommon for policies to
increase the amounts of loan available to women under each scheme. In the process these
policies often become mere welfare measures rather than promotion policies. One of the
popular schemes – PMRY, has undergone several revisions in its nomenclature and the maximum
amount it offers from the time of its inception in 1983. At first it was known as SUEY
(Scheme for Unemployed Youth) with the total amount per loan limited to Rs 50, 000. In
1993 it was renamed as PMRY and the amount increased to Rs 1 lakh. In 1999, the amount
was raised to Rs 2 lakh, with little change in the contents of the scheme, but with a noteworthy
addition of preference for women.
Only a small proportion of the sample entrepreneurs are seen to have availed of the subsidies
or grants promised by government, largely due to complications of government procedure.
The provisions of WIP (Women Industries Programme) scheme of the States are quite favourable
to women entrepreneurs. The Programme provided for 50 percent subsidy as grant;
and 50 percent subsidy for construction of building and purchase of machinery. There were
also provisions for stipends for trainees. Of course, the SSI Scheme had even more attractive
provisions. These schemes are now in a state of suspended animation since their transfer to
local bodies of administration. While the rural areas had at least attempted implementation of
some of these schemes through panchayats, the city areas are yet to implement them. Even
when they were under state administration, the provisions of this scheme had been used only
to conduct a few orientation seminars on entrepreneurship. It is significant to note that the
women who run enterprises remained ignorant of the allotments made for promoting women
entrepreneurship at the panchayat level. Inadequate publicity and cumbersome administrative
procedures, explain to a great extent, the non-utilisation of the benefits envisaged in these
schemes.
Most of the women entrepreneurs in our sample had not heard about institutions such as
APPAREL, WDC (Women Development Corporation), DIC, KSIDC, SIDCO, KFC, SISI,
and CFSC.
A support system that the woman entrepreneurs would be able to access freely has to be
thought of. A place where the different units of a particular industry could function together,
(for example garment manufacturers together with dealers in fabrics, dyes, threads, and
embroidery as well as accessory units) from one place or an arrangement among them to get
together at fixed intervals would help effective networking. It would also help them share
information on matters of importance (such as government policies or trends).
The policies and procedures in vogue in several matters, such as in the case of sick units
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