Why women entrepreneurs are missing from India’s startup story

The Centre’s ambitious Startup India, Stand-up India initiative has failed to attract women entrepreneurs. Only 43% of the 27,084 recognised startups in India had a woman director as of 8 January, according to the Economic Survey 2019-20.

Women’s representation remained low even in the states that, according to the survey, were top performers in terms of state-wise distribution of recognized startups—Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Also, in the Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2019, India ranked 52 out of the 57 surveyed countries.

What’s worse, according to Innoven Capital, a venture debt and lending platform, the number of funded startups with at least one female co-founder declined from 17% in 2018 to 12% in 2019. “Women have no risk covering possibility financially, besides lack of credit support.