Kathmandu. Ambika Shrestha of Dhanushadham Municipality-4 is currently running a general store at the nearby chowk of the village. She registered General Stores with the Cottage and Small Industries Office, Dhanusha in September last year. Initially, Shrestha had planned to register General Stores by making her husband the proprietor of General Stores, but due to the concession facilities provided by the government, she registered General Stores in her own name.

Sunita Sah of Sahid Municipality-5, Dhanusha, who was confined to her previous household chores, has registered a fancy store in her name and has been running a business at Yadukaha Bazaar. Not only Sunita and Ambika, the number of women entrepreneurs is increasing in the districts of Madhes Province after the government gave concession to women in the registration fee of industry and entrepreneurs.

In Madhes Province, the number of women registering industries as proprietors is very low. Santosh Kumar Sah, chief of the Cottage and Small Industries Office, Dhanusha, said that the trend of women being registered as directors has increased after the government published a notice in the gazette that only 35 percent of the registration of women entrepreneurs should be registered.

Around 10 to 12 new industries and businesses are registered in the name of women on a daily basis, said Saha. Most of the businesses registered in the name of women are general stores, tailoring and beauty parlours, while most of the industries are agriculture and fish and animal husbandry.

According to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of Madhes Province, 4,878 women from all eight districts of Madhes Province got employment in the last fiscal year 2082÷83. Information Officer at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Upendra Kumar Mahato, informed that Bara (1,473), Parsa (1,227), Rautahat (385), Sarlahi (575), Mahottari (375), Saptari (363), Dhanusha (344) and Siraha (136) are providing employment to women.

According to him, in the last fiscal year 2082÷83, 5,068 new industries were registered in Madhes state. A total of 1,101 new industries were registered in Parsa, 777 in Dhanusha, 639 in Bara, 636 in Sarlahi, 554 in Siraha, 533 in Rautahat, 514 in Mahottari and 314 in Saptari. In the last fiscal year 2082÷83, 7,540 industries were renewed in the province. In the fiscal year 2082÷83, a total of 6,122 private firms and 18 partnership firms were registered and 11,144 were renewed.

A total of Rs 526,49,562 revenue has been collected under the headings of registration and renewal of new industries and commerce. According to him, the registration of small and cottage industries has increased due to the government’s exemption in the registration of industries and businesses registered in the name of women, the local administration has made it stricter for the registration of entrepreneurs and banks and financial institutions to invest loans in industries.

Pawan Pajiyar, chief of the Cottage and Small Industries Office, Birgunj, said.

Former Vice-President of Janakpurdham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ambu Sah said, “Women are being made the owners of industries and trade of late. According to her, increasing participation of women in industries and businesses has contributed to social transformation through women’s empowerment.