Govt shares Initiatives To Protect Women Entrepreneurs During Covid-19 Pandemic

New Delhi (23/03/2022): Labour Bureau has been entrusted with the task of conducting the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) as a component of All India Quarterly Establishment based Employment Survey (AQEES) that was also designed to collect the information on the Covid-19 pandemic impact on the operational status and employment status of the establishments in the selected 9 sectors namely (i) manufacturing, (ii) construction (iii) trade (iv) transport (v) education (vi) health (vii) accommodation and restaurants (viii) IT / BPOs and (ix) financial services. As per reported data, there were a total of 90 Lakh female employees prior to lockdown (before 25^th March, 2020) which reduced to 83.3 lakh as on 1^st July, 2020. However, as reported in 2^nd Quarterly Employment Survey, 2021, number of female employees as on 01.07.2021 has been reported as 32.1% of the total i.e. approximately 99.71 lakh, well above the number reported prior to lockdown and hence indicates that the impact during initial phase of pandemic was .temporary and has no major impact on overall employment of women.

The Government has taken several initiatives to support and protect the interest of women entrepreneurs and MSME through stimulus given under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Packages to combat the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The packages comprise of schemes having impact across various sectors of the economy. The review of the progress made in implementation of the stimulus package announced under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Packages is done regularly. The specific initiatives taken to protect women entrepreneurs and MSMEs during covid-19 are as under:

(1)   Rs. 3 lakh crore Emergency Working Capital Facility for Businesses, including MSMEs.

2. Rs. 20,000 crore Subordinate Debt for Stressed MSMEs.

(3)   Rs. 50,000 crore equity infusion through MSME Fund of Funds.

(4)   New Definition of MSME and other Measures for MSME.

(5)   Rs. 10,000 crore scheme for formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises (MFE)

(6)   Relief of Rs. 1500 crore to MUDRA loanees.

(7)   Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs, businesses, MUDRA borrowers and individuals.

(8)   Rs. 5000 crore Credit facility for Street Vendors.

(9)   Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, a total of 20.40 crores (approx) women account holders (Pradhan Mantri JanDhan Yojna) were given an ex-gratia of Rs 500 per month for three months.

(10) For Self-Help groups (SHGs), limit of collateral free lending was increased from Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs. 20 lakhs for women organized through 63 lakh Self Help Groups, who supported 6.85 crore households.

The Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package is reviewed and monitored by Ministry of Finance. The assessment or consultations with stakeholders regarding the financial impact of COVID-19 on women entrepreneurs and MSMEs run by women SHGs are the mandated functions of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the Ministry of Rural Development.

Further, to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers, including women migrant workers, returning to villages, in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, Government of India has launched Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) on 20.06.2020.

Government of India under PM-SVANidhi Scheme has facilitated collateral free working capital loan upto Rs.10,000/-for one-year tenure to street vendors, to resume their businesses.

Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), Government of India has contributed both 12% employer’s share and 12% employee’s share under Employees Provident Fund (EPF), totalling 24% of the wage for the wage month from March to August, 2020 for the establishments having upto 100 employees with 90% of such employees earning less than Rs. 15000/-.

The unemployment benefit under the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana being implemented by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has been enhanced to 50% from 25% of the average wage, payable upto 90 days, along with relaxation of eligibility conditions to claim the benefit.

In order to enhance the employability of female workers, the Government is providing training to them through a network of women Industrial Training institutes, National Vocational Training Institutes and Regional Vocational Training Institutes.

35670712792774. is implementing National Career Service (NCS) Project as a Mission Mode Project for transformation of the National Employment Service where a variety of employment related services like job search, job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses etc. are being provided under the NCS Project on a common platform with efficient use of information technology. In order to promote women empowerment, NCS provides various opportunities and features specifically focused for women candidates to encourage skilling and employment amongst females.

Further, on 26.08.2021, the Ministry of Labour & Employment launched e-SHRAM portal with an objective to create National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW) to facilitate delivery of Social Security Schemes/ Welfare Schemes of the Central /State Governments to the workers of informal/ unorganised sector.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.