What is Womaniya? How is it helping Women?
The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry unveiled a new Government initiative on January 14 to encourage women to start businesses in the country.
Womaniya on GeM is a scheme that intends to assist women in selling their handicrafts and handloom products directly to various ministries, departments, and organisations using an internet interface.
In a press statement, the ministry stated, “The project aspires to develop women entrepreneurship on the outskirts of society to achieve gender-inclusive economic growth.”
What is Womaniya all about?
To put it simply, ‘Womaniya GeM’ (Government e-Marketplace) is a central government project aimed at encouraging female entrepreneurs and self-help groups with this procurement platform.
Using the initiative’s digital site, women can sell handicrafts and handloom, accessories, jute and coir items, home decor, and office furniture directly to various ministries, departments, and institutions.
Why Womaniya?
S Radha Chauhan, CEO of GeM, underlined the importance of Womaniya by stating that over 80% of women-owned businesses in the country are self-funded. Aside from that, over 60% of the 8 million units are owned or led by women entrepreneurs from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
“Women’s economic empowerment is a step toward poverty alleviation,” Chauhan continued, “since they invest up to 90% of their earnings back into their families to provide better nutrition, health care, and education to their children.”
The government’s goal with Womaniya is to increase the incomes of these women entrepreneurs. The government aim to provide them with easy access to the market.
What is Government eMarketplace (GeM)?
Every year, the government purchases many goods and services. Purchases made by the Central Government, State Governments, and various inistries and PSUs across India account for over one-fifth of India’s GDP.
Earlier government procurement was a market worth roughly Rs 60,000 crore, it was staggered, dispersed, and unfocused. The government had to issue tenders at the local level when they needed to purchase products or services. This resulted in excessive delays, poor procurement quality, and a decentralised system with flaws. Thus, the government created Government eMarketplace (GeM) in 2016 to tackle such problems.
It unified the entire procurement process across many government agencies and ministries into a single portal. In 2020, the government declared that they would use the GeM site for Rs 20,000 crore of government procurement, which proved to be a significant change.
Eprocurement India 