1. POTENTIAL FOR
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
IN RURAL INDIA
By
Vaishnav Kumar

2. INTRODUCTION
 After over 5 decades of Independence and Industrialization in our country,
still large part of population remains under poverty line.
 Agriculture continues to be the back bone of rural society.
 Agricultural work force has a share of 70 per cent in the total work force of
the country.
 One also needs to keep in mind that there is a continuous growth of
population.
 This has led to over crowing on agricultural land, diminishing farm produce
and migration of farm worker in large numbers to the urban areas.

3. Cont.
 Entrepreneurship could take off the excess of labor from the farms that
causes disguised employment.
 Rural entrepreneurship can simply be defined as entrepreneurship
emerging in the rural areas.
 In other words, establishing industrial units in the rural areas refers to rural
entrepreneurship.

4. NEED FOR RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 Employment Generation
 Reduce disparities in income between rural and urban income
 Promote balanced regional development
 Protect and promote art and creativity
 Economic development in rural areas

5. PROFILE OF A RURAL ENTREPRENEUR
 He should not be an individualist. He should have a group
orientation. He should consider the rural society not as his market
but as his own large family.
 He should practice a management style where the concern for
people is the highest.
 He should have a strong commitment for rural development.
 He won’t be interested in usual perks and entertainment allowance.
Social gain will be his perk and the smiles on the faces of
impoverished rural population his only allowance.

6. PROBLEMS OF RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 Financial constraints
 Lack of technical know-how
 Lack of communication and market information
 Poor quality raw material and other inputs
 Lack of storage and warehousing facilities

7. HOW TO DEVELOP RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
 Strengthen the raw material base in rural areas.
 Funds should be available on time at soft terms and conditions.
 Develop entrepreneurial competencies through trainings.
 Dissimilate information about the available facilities.
 Modern infrastructural facilities.
 NGOs in rural areas.

8. NEED FOR SOWING THE DREAM IN THE MINDS OF
RURAL YOUTH
 “Youths in the rural areas have little options”, this is what they are given
to believe.
 This is the reason that many of them either work at farm or migrate to urban
land.
 Entrepreneurship could be the best option.
 If planted and nurtured in the minds of rural women and youth, it could result
in revolutionizing the Indian economy.
 It should be emphasized that the projects undertaken by these entrepreneurs
should not be constrained by its location in rural area.

9. Advantages of Rural Industrial Projects
1. Tax holidays and other tax advantages given to rural projects.
2. Abundance of cheap labor.
3. Advantage of local and regional resources in case the unit uses
them as a raw material.
4. Prestige and respect among the local community
5. Live example for local youth for taking up entrepreneurial project
6. Support and motivation from local people
7. Employment generation for local people.

10. TRAINING FOR RURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 The training for development of rural entrepreneurship has to be different from
the entrepreneurship development training in urban areas.
 This is the reason that government initiated the integrated rural development
programs.
 The District Industrial Centre conducts these area potential surveys for usage
of potential entrepreneurs.

11. CONCLUSION
 Rural entrepreneurship cannot be developed without significant training.
 Therefore, instead of just schemes (financial and developmental) as the
carrot for entrepreneurship development an intensive training needs to be
provided to the youth in rural India. What’s required is to create a devoted
team to take up rural entrepreneurship training as per integrated rural
development program.
 The problem is that most of the rural youth do not think of
entrepreneurship as the career option.
 Therefore, the rural youth need to be motivated to take up
entrepreneurship as a career, with training and sustaining support systems
providing all necessary assistance.