NEXUS BETWEEN FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A STUDY IN SELECT DISTRICTS OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

The women-owned movement has creating immense diversity and unprecedented strength to the business world. This female entrepreneurship is imperative to drive changes in living standards of the society and to build and augment the healthy economic development of a nation. Notwithstanding, financial assistance and funding sources are critical areas which women entrepreneurs persistently required. Therefore, in this context, inclusive financial system emerged as catalyst for rendering adequate and timely accessible financial services as well as funds to cater the needs of entrepreneurship besides to the government. Financial inclusion is a multidimensional phenomenon and ensuring financial products and services at affordable cost. Hence, the present study explores women entrepreneurs who really uplift society and economy through the ownership of small and medium size enterprises in select districts of Andhra Pradesh. The study mainly emphasis on; first, socio economic profile of women entrepreneurs, second, awareness and the extent of accessibility of financial products and government schemes by women entrepreneurs, last, association between women entrepreneurship and financial inclusion in terms of degree of accessibility of financial products and services. Data compiles from a sample comprising 260 female entrepreneurs using purposive sampling and by distributing structured questionnaire. Chi-square analysis is the only statistical tool applied in SPSS for the analysis. The results conclude that financial inclusion is positively associated with women entrepreneurship and it can also open up ample of fruitful opportunities for women entrepreneurs.