IIM Calcutta Innovation Park launches a three‑year programme to train 50,000 women entrepreneurs across all 24 districts of Jharkhand, promoting inclusive entrepreneurship and livelihood growth.
Large‑scale women‑entrepreneurship drive in Jharkhand
The IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) has announced a large‑scale initiative to train 50,000 women entrepreneurs across all 24 districts of Jharkhand, reinforcing its focus on inclusive entrepreneurship and sustainable livelihood development. The programme follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS), which outlines a three‑year plan to build and support women‑led enterprises at the grassroots level.
IIMCIP will design and implement a structured, multi‑stage training programme that targets women engaged in micro and small enterprises, self‑help groups, and home‑based businesses. The initiative aims to nurture an enabling ecosystem where women can launch, scale, and sustain their ventures while improving family incomes and local economic resilience.
Strengthening grassroots entrepreneurship
Under the scheme, IIMCIP will deliver customised training modules designed to enhance core entrepreneurial capabilities such as business planning, financial literacy, market linkage, branding, and digital skills. The park will work closely with JSLPS and other local partners to ensure the content meets the real‑world needs of rural and semi‑urban women entrepreneurs who often face barriers such as limited capital, weak market access, and constrained information networks.
The programme also aims to improve participants’ access to formal credit, government schemes, and digital platforms for online selling and promotion. By combining offline workshops with supported mentoring, the initiative seeks to build confidence, capability, and connectivity among women entrepreneurs, encouraging them to formalise and grow their businesses.
Alignment with national development missions
The Jharkhand initiative aligns with key national priorities such as the Viksit Bharat Mission and the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY‑NRLM), both of which emphasise livelihood generation, financial inclusion, and women‑led economic participation. The IIM Calcutta Innovation Park’s work dovetails with these efforts by providing institutional support, technical know‑how, and market‑ready skills to grassroots women entrepreneurs.
Dr. V. K. Rai, CEO of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, said, “Women entrepreneurs, particularly from the grassroots, represent a significant opportunity to drive inclusive economic growth in India. Their talent, ambition, and entrepreneurial potential deserve all the opportunities our ecosystem can provide. Our purpose and role at IIMCIP is to transform this powerful potential into sustainable businesses that generate a lasting impact for their families and communities.”
Expanding impact from startups to livelihoods
IIMCIP has already established itself as a key enabler of innovation and entrepreneurship through its startup‑incubation initiatives. Since its inception, the park has supported over 500 startups and played a crucial role in creating 59 ‘Crorepati Didis’ – women entrepreneurs whose annual income has reached or crossed ₹1 crore – through targeted training, mentoring, and funding‑ecosystem linkages.
The Jharkhand programme extends this model beyond urban‑centric tech startups to grassroots livelihood enterprises, demonstrating how innovation infrastructure can serve both high‑growth ventures and community‑anchored businesses. By embedding IIMCIP’s expertise in business design, impact measurement, and ecosystem building into Jharkhand’s rural economy, the initiative aims to unlock diverse entrepreneurial pathways – from food processing and handcrafts to service‑based and tech‑enabled enterprises.
Building sustainable community‑based enterprises
The expansion across all 24 districts of Jharkhand is expected to strengthen community‑based entrepreneurship by equipping women with the skills, resources, and market linkages needed to build sustainable, scalable enterprises. IIMCIP will work with local institutions, banking partners, and digital platforms to create support networks that help women entrepreneurs navigate regulatory compliance, taxation, e‑commerce, and export‑oriented opportunities.
By prioritising women‑led entrepreneurship, the programme also contributes to broader gender‑equality and social‑inclusion goals, empowering women to transition from wage‑dependent or informal workers into recognized business owners and market participants.
Through this Jharkhand mission, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park is deepening its role in India’s inclusive‑growth agenda, turning local talent into lasting prosperity while helping the state and country move closer to the vision of Viksit Bharat – a developed, equitable, and entrepreneurship‑driven economy.
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