Published Paper Details:

Women entrepreneurship has come to the fore as a prime source of inclusive economic growth, employment and socio-economic empowerment. The Government of India and Government of Uttar Pradesh have implemented various policy measures to encourage entrepreneurial development among women, such as the One District One Product (ODOP) programme, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), and Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM). This review paper critically explores the targets, implementation mechanisms, women-specific provisions, and the effectiveness of these schemes. It synthesises the evidence in this area from government reports and the latest empirical research. The review reveals that financial assistance, women's skill development, Entrepreneurship training, Market linkage, and institutional support have played a significant role in enhancing women's access to entrepreneurial opportunities, but the impacts of these schemes depend on the design of the entrepreneurship programmes, the quality of implementation, awareness of the beneficiaries, and access to complementary support services. Limited awareness, procedural complexity, market access, lack of post-training support, and institutional coordination are recurring issues that are reported in the literature as factors that limit the sustainability of women's businesses in the long-term. Plus, the previous studies have largely focused on examining individual schemes separately, and there's a limited comparative analysis of the contribution of these schemes to women entrepreneurship in Uttar Pradesh. These areas of research are identified, and the need for an integrated policy approach that merges financial inclusion, capacity building, market development, and institutional support for making government interventions more effective in supporting sustainable women entrepreneurship is underlined.