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September 10, 2025

Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Rural Development in India

Key Points

Social entrepreneurship has a prevalence rate of 3.8% for startups and 5.8% for operational entities in India, much higher than South Africa's 1.6% and 2.3%.
Women-led social enterprises outnumber male-led ones by 17%, especially in new market creation, showcasing a reduced gender gap.
Most social enterprises operate in skills development, with around 77% established between 6 to 10 years ago, relying heavily on subsidies and grants.
Major constraints include lack of skilled manpower, access to public facilities, and awareness from financial institutions, limiting growth potential.

Abstract

AbstractSocial impact and entrepreneurship are deeply rooted in the Indian ethos. Opportunities for social entrepreneurship (SE) in India are countless. The huge population, unmatched youth demographics, the vibrant SE ecosystem and India’s socio-economic issues are the main reasons for their rise. With this consideration, the present study was carried out to compare the landscape of SE at national and global level along with different opportunities and constraints faced by them. For the 11 million SE at global level, the average prevalence rate among nascent and operational entrepreneurs is 3.2 and 3.7 per cent respectively. There exists around 2 million SE at the national level. Among factor driven economies (India), higher prevalence rates of 3.8 and 5.8 existed respectively for start up and operational SE in comparison to efficiency driven economy (South Africa) i.e. 1.6 and 2.3 per cent respectively. The gender gap remains much less pronounced for SE activity for most global regions. SE that is less than five years old identified attracting new customers as their top growth plan. In terms of new market creation, women had a lead over male led SE. Most of the SE operate in the skills development sector. Analysis of data for PAU trained SE in different fields for the years 2021-22 indicated that the number of female led SE were higher by 17 per cent. About 77 per cent of the SE got established 6 to 10 years back. The major source of finance was subsidy and grants for the start ups. Major constraints included lack of skilled manpower, raising equity, lack of access to public facilities and services, issues with grant funding opportunities and lack of awareness from financial institutions. The need of the hour is a revolution in form of SE in creating and implementing effective, innovative and sustainable solutions to battle social and environmental challenges.

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