When women earn, the effect travels through families, businesses and communities.

Women running viable nano and micro enterprises in retail, food and services stay invisible to traditional underwriting, simply for lacking a credit history. A first-loss guarantee program changed what lenders could see. UGRO Capital sourced borrowers against criteria built jointly with Samhita, and every case went through independent review before onboarding. The program has enabled ₹5 crore in formal credit, in loan sizes from ₹2 lakh to ₹10 lakh.

Women farmers and micro-entrepreneurs in Latur had the drive to grow their income, but no capital and no credit history to unlock it. A zero-interest, collateral-free Returnable Grant gave 422 women ₹10,000 each in flexible capital, paired with training on credit use and enterprise planning. Agricultural income rose 78%, business income rose 51%, and household income rose 81%. Repayment discipline held even through flood-related crop losses, and the program is now in its third cycle, moving women into formal credit with lenders who trust the track record.

Women in nano and micro livelihoods rarely face just one barrier — it's usually a mix of missing credit history, no formal skilling, and no route into employment, all at once. POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women's Economic Resilience) was built to address these together rather than in isolation, combining entrepreneurship development, bank loan facilitation and returnable grants with NSDC-aligned skilling and post-placement support. In FY25–26, the program trained 900 women for employment, placing 810 of them at a 90% placement rate and 76% retention. On the credit side, 910 women were trained and supported through loan applications, resulting in 269 sanctions and ₹1.13 crore in credit sanctioned at a 30% sanction rate. 200 women received returnable grants against a ₹30 lakh corpus, with a 46% repayment rate, while 600 women were trained digitally for ONDC market linkages, of whom 240 are now active sellers.

Many women running farm and non-farm livelihoods in rural Madhya Pradesh have the drive to build a business but little access to the entrepreneurial awareness, financial literacy or formal channels that would let that business grow. Under ITC Mission Sunehra Kal, the Udyam Saksharta initiative was designed to close that gap directly — strengthening entrepreneurial awareness, financial literacy, business planning and digital financial inclusion for women entrepreneurs. The program is equipping 25,000 women across 20 rural districts of Madhya Pradesh with the skills, knowledge and support needed to start, formalise and grow their enterprises.

In many parts of rural Rajasthan, women's economic agency is held back less by a single missing piece than by the absence of a coordinated push — livelihood opportunities, skilling, enterprise support and credit or scheme linkages rarely arrive together. Project Tejasvi, implemented by the Anil Agarwal Foundation through its flagship Project Nand Ghar, is designed to bring these together at scale. The program aims to empower 10,000 women across Jaipur and Bhilwara with livelihood opportunities, skilling, enterprise support, and credit or scheme linkages, targeting a 15–20% income increase sustained for at least two months after the intervention.