In keeping with the Modi government’s resolve to encourage women entrepreneurs, the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) is planning to seek out and reward women entrepreneurs who have done exemplary work in the field of software products.
Women-founded and run companies that have done stellar work in the areas of artificial intelligence, internet of things and virtual reality among others would be recognised. The start-up doing the most impactful work in the social sector and a new-age company working in the realm of agriculture, healthcare and water management would also be awarded.
The Sixth Economic Census, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, has found that women make up only about 14% of all entrepreneurship in the country. This means that only 8.05 million out of a total of 58.29 million entrepreneurs are women.
A government official, aware of the MeitY’s plan to reward women entrepreneurs, told The Economic Times that the idea is to build software products and inspire women to take up entrepreneurship more and more. The government had recently unveiled a draft policy for software products.
The MeitY has joined hands with IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) for the awards and close to 650 nominations have already been received.
Snapdeal CEO and Founder Kunal Bahl, Saurabh Srivastava of TiE, Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh, and Meity secretary Ajay Sawhney are among those part of the jury.
The awards would be given away by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Electronics, IT and Communications during the launch of the startup hub on October 21.
Content Team
Himanshu
Shree Lahiri
