SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has 536,478 women working in MSMEs and 184,315 MSMEs are led by women, according to official data placed in the Lok Sabha.
The latest figures placed before Parliament show a marked rise in the participation of women in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises across Jammu and Kashmir, both as workers and as enterprise owners. The data, part of an unstarred question answered on December 4, reveals a two-sided story: women employed in MSMEs have increased steadily since 2020, and women-led enterprises have also expanded during the same period.
According to the reply by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Jammu and Kashmir registered 26,237 MSMEs in 2020–21 employing 35,368 women. This rose in 2021–22 when 45,396 women were recorded working in 34,447 MSMEs. The upward trend continued in 2022–23, with 56,676 women working in 52,231 units. The sharpest expansion came in 2023–24, when 291,616 MSMEs reported 158,765 women employees. The pace of registrations slowed in 2024–25 and 2025–26, but the sector still recorded 144,619 women workers in 2024–25 and 95,654 women workers by November 2025. Taken together, Jammu and Kashmir’s MSMEs reported 536,478 women workers from 2020–21 to 2025–26, reflecting what the government has described as steady and broad-based growth in female employment.
Alongside the increase in women workers, Jammu and Kashmir has also seen a notable rise in women-led MSMEs. The Ministry’s year-wise breakup shows 2,999 women-led enterprises registered in 2020–21. This increased to 13,317 in 2021–22 and rose again to 24,279 in 2022–23. The most dramatic growth came in 2023–24, when 77,705 women-led MSMEs were registered. This momentum eased in 2024–25, which recorded 47,983 such enterprises, followed by 18,032 women-led units by November 2025 in 2025–26. Altogether, 184,315 women-led MSMEs were registered in Jammu and Kashmir between July 2020 and November 2025, a rise the government has associated with targeted outreach and credit support.
The administration has said that this expansion has come on the back of interventions aimed at improving women’s participation in the MSME space. These include special registration drives for women-owned enterprises; procurement norms mandating that three per cent of annual purchases by public sector enterprises must come from women-led units; and enhanced credit guarantee coverage of up to ninety per cent for micro and small women entrepreneurs, along with a ten per cent concession in annual guarantee fees. The Ministry has also pointed to higher subsidies for women under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, under which women constitute thirty-nine per cent of all beneficiaries and receive subsidies of up to thirty-five per cent.
Skill development initiatives such as the Mahila Coir Yojana and full subsidy for participation in trade fairs under the Procurement and Marketing Support Scheme have been listed as additional measures. The government has also said that campaigns such as Yashasvini have been launched to improve awareness and provide mentorship to women entrepreneurs.
On deregistration, the Ministry clarified that MSMEs may deregister due to reasons such as change of ownership, duplicate entries, and voluntary closure. Across the country, 24,545 MSMEs deregistered between July 2020 and November 2025, while more than two crore eighty-six lakh enterprises registered during the same period.
For Jammu and Kashmir, the numbers reflect a long-running policy push to strengthen women’s economic participation. While the national picture highlights both expansion and churn, the figures from the Union Territory show rising female engagement, whether as part of the workforce or as enterprise owners—an encouraging trend in a region where MSMEs form the backbone of local livelihoods.
