• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Our Bureau

Bangalore , Sept 19

A NATIONAL trading policy along with an integrated, EU-like facilitation of goods traffic across the country can help to make trading attractive to women, speakers at a conference on women in trade and commerce here said.

Trading, which was the country's second largest employing sector after farming, had many opportunities for women but still remained a male domain. The private sector should be involved in shaping a national trading policy to bridge this gap, Ms Tarjani Vakil, former CMD, Exim Bank, suggested at WITS 2003, the national conference for `Women entrepreneurs in trade & commerce' which opened here today. India, she said, ranked 17th by the number of women traders while South-East Asian countries are far ahead in their rank.

Some of the areas identified as big trading potential were wholesale marketing, C&F agencies and FMCG dealerships. Ms Vakil said a dedicated source of finance should be set up to encourage women traders, while literacy and awareness of global trends would be important for getting rural women into the entrepreneurial sphere.

According to Ms Madhura Chatrapathy, Adviser to FKCCI Women Entrepreneurs Committee, databases related to women entrepreneurs and traders were also badly wanting and these were necessary for any policy intervention.

The Canara Bank CMD, Mr R.V.Shastri, said the bank disbursed loans worth Rs 2,200 crore to women entrepreneurs - the highest of six per cent of total credit offered by any banks. Some 25,000 self-help groups involving 5 lakh women had been assisted and the bank has had 99 per cent recovery.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Strong northeast monsoon forecast for Kerala, TN

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line