The Ministry of Rural Development has launched a National Campaign on Entrepreneurship to boost rural women-led enterprises and support the government’s Lakhpati Didi initiative.
The campaign, launched on January 12, aims to train 50,000 Community Resource Persons (CRPs) in enterprise promotion and provide Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) training to 50 lakh women Self Help Group (SHG) members under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).
Ministry said the programme is designed to accelerate non-farm rural enterprise development and strengthen grassroots entrepreneurship capacity. The initiative builds on existing non-farm livelihood models, including those under the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme, which have shown success in helping SHG women launch and run small enterprises with the support of trained community cadres.
The Ministry has committed to creating at least 3 crore “Lakhpati Didis” — women SHG members earning ₹1 lakh or more annually — and believes that scaling the cadre of trained enterprise promoters will be crucial to achieving this target.
Senior officials from NITI Aayog, NABARD, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IFMR LEAD (KREA University), EDII, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park and State Rural Livelihood Missions participated in the launch event.
According to the Ministry, the campaign is expected to deepen enterprise development across rural India, stimulate local economic growth and unlock entrepreneurial potential among women. It added that the initiative will help create a more resilient and self-reliant non-farm rural economy, including improved access to formal financial institutions and enterprise credit for grassroots entrepreneurs.
