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Journalism of Courage
Women have comprehensively edged out men by cornering 68.92 lakh extra jobs (56.3%) of the total 1.12 crore additional employment generated using Mudra loans disbursed during 33 months between April 2015 and December 2017. But over 90% of these come on account of Shishu loans which has the smallest ticket size of up to Rs 50,000, according to the Draft Report of Mudra Survey reviewed by The Indian Express.
In the Kishor (Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh) and Tarun (Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh) loan categories, additional jobs going to women drops precipitously. Women account for just 5.88 lakh new jobs which is merely 5.2% of total additional employment. Men have bagged 32.2 lakh or 28.7% extra jobs from loans under these two loan categories.
Also read | What is the Mudra Yojana Scheme all about?
Additional employment of male workers in the Kishor loans category was nearly four times that of female workers added in that category. The gap between additional employment of male and female workers widens further in the Tarun loans category (Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh), with male workers accounting for about 14% of the additional employment as against a meagre 1.2% share of female workers.
The trend, according to analysts, could be a pointer to the fact that while female workers tip the scales in terms of overall numbers, their employment is largely restricted to smaller units funded by loans under the Mudra scheme.
Among the states, the highest addition of female workers is in Karnataka under the Shishu loans category, accounting for 12% of total additional employment in that category, followed by Odisha with a share of 6.3%. Maharashtra led among the states in employing extra female workers in the higher loan ticket size categories of Kishor and Tarun, followed by Karnataka and Kerala, respectively.
Also Read | Maharashtra gets just 4% of all Mudra loans but generates most new jobs
In case of male workers, Andhra Pradesh added the highest numbers in the Shishu category with a 1.2% share of the total additional employment. In the higher loan ticket size categories of Kishor and Tarun, the maximum male workers were added in Uttar Pradesh (2.2%) and Maharashtra (7.3%).
As first reported by The Indian Express, the draft report on Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana Survey conducted by the Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour and Employment found that just one in five beneficiaries started a new business while the rest expanded their existing establishment.
