Hyderabad, May 29 (RAHNUMA): Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Dr Danasari Anasuya Seethakka said that rural women should move beyond being beneficiaries of welfare schemes and emerge as entrepreneur role models with economic independence and self-discipline.
Addressing the launch of a first-of-its-kind Incubator programme for growth-oriented rural women-led enterprises at the tightly packed Komaram Bheem Adivasi Bhavan here on Friday, the Minister said the State government envisioned women not merely as job seekers, but as job creators capable of leading industries and businesses. The initiative is part of Mahila Varosthavalu as part of Praja Palana Pragathi Pranalika.
“We don’t want women to remain job seekers. We want women to become job creators,” Seethakka said. “The government does not want women to hold only bank passbooks in their hands; We want them to own businesses and industries,” she added.
Describing the initiative as “not an ordinary programme, but a financial movement that will transform the future of rural women in Telangana,” the Minister said the incubation centres would provide a strong platform for women to realise their entrepreneurial ambitions and showcase their talent and capabilities.
She said the initiative reflects Chief Minister A. Revanth Rddy’s ambition of transforming one crore women SHG members into crorepatis.
The initiative is being implemented by the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) in partnership with T-Hub, BITS Pilani and WE Hub to create an institutional ecosystem for rural enterprise acceleration.
With a total outlay of Rs 21.40 crore, the programme aims to support 300 high-potential rural women-led enterprises through structured incubation, financial assistance, mentoring and market linkages. Of the total allocation, Rs 8.74 crore has been earmarked for incubation support and Rs 12.66 crore for enterprise financing, including grants and zero-interest soft loans.
The programme adopts a Challenge Fund model to identify scalable enterprises and provide end-to-end support ranging from business diagnostics and formalisation to branding, digital onboarding and market access. IT-enabled monitoring systems will track the progress of participating enterprises.
Minister Seethakka said the initiative is expected to facilitate a minimum annual revenue growth of 15% in the supported enterprises and generate between 900 and 1,200 jobs in rural areas. It also seeks to build a replicable model for rural enterprise acceleration across Telangana.
The Minister said the State government was taking historic decisions for women’s empowerment and highlighted several measures aimed at strengthening women’s economic participation. She noted that the limit for interest-free loans to women self-help groups had been enhanced from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and that over Rs 60,000 crore in bank linkage loans had already been extended to women’s groups in the State.
“Even when banks hesitate to lend to large business personalities, they are readily extending loans to women’s self-help groups because women have demonstrated nearly 100% repayment and set an example for the country,” she said.
The Minister said the government’s goal was to ensure that products manufactured by women in villages reached international markets rather than remaining confined to local consumption. She recalled presenting tamarind-seed masks prepared by women from Cheriyal as gifts to guests from the Netherlands, describing it as a reflection of the creativity of Telangana’s rural women.
Among those present at the event were SERP Chief Executive Officer Divya Devarajan, T-Hub Chief Executive Officer Kavikrut, WE Hub Chief Executive Officer Sita Pallacholla, SERP Non-Farm Director Johnson, representatives from DRDO, district women federation members, self-help group members and young entrepreneurs.
