Analysis of the inclination of young Indian women towards entrepreneurship: An empirical study of management students

Entrepreneurs play an important role in the economic growth of a nation by creating revenues and employment. A number of factors have contributed towards inclination of Indian youth towards entrepreneurship in the 21st century. The Indian woman is no exception to it. Historically the very nature of business streams in the past primarily focused on manufacturing activities and attracted mainly the male entrepreneurs. Earlier the role of women was restricted to small business activities, which had low returns and hence financially less attractive, or to high technology activities, which required high skills and financial strength. The scenario has changed altogether in recent times due to IT revolution and increased tertiary sector activities. Consequent to these changes in the economic environment, the women now has a level playing field to emerge as successful entrepreneurs. Though the number of women in entrepreneurial role in India has been increasing for last few years, still there is a significant proportion of women who resist the idea of being an entrepreneur. This is an attempt to analyze the inclination of young Indian women towards entrepreneurship. This paper highlights and examines the factors that motivate Indian women for starting their own ventures and also the reasons for not going for entrepreneurship. For the purpose of this study both primary and secondary data have been collected. Self developed questionnaire was used. Non probability sampling technique has been used and the sample size of 58 post-graduate female students of management education has been considered for the purpose.