Telangana launches ₹21.40 crore incubation initiative for rural women entrepreneurs

In a major push towards promoting women-led enterprises and rural entrepreneurship, the Telangana government on Friday (May 29, 2026) has launched a first-of-its-kind incubation and acceleration programme for rural women entrepreneurs under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). The programme is expected to achieve at least 15% annual revenue growth among the supported enterprises and create between 900 and 1,200 jobs in rural and semi-urban areas.

The initiative, being implemented by the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) in partnership with T-Hub, BITS Pilani and WE-Hub, aims to build a comprehensive ecosystem for scaling women-led rural enterprises in the State.

Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka launched the programme at the Adivasi Bhavan in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, on Friday.

Addressing the gathering, the Minister said, “Our government wants women to move beyond the role of job seekers and emerge as job creators. This initiative is an economic movement that will transform the future of rural women in Telangana.”

Funds for incubation, enterprise development support and zero-interest loans

The programme has a total outlay of ₹21.40 crore and will support 300 high-potential women-led enterprises across rural Telangana. Of the total allocation, ₹8.74 crore has been earmarked for incubation and enterprise development support, while ₹12.66 crore will be provided as direct financial assistance in the form of grants and zero-interest soft loans.

As part of the initiative, SERP, in collaboration with BITS Pilani and T-Hub, announced the establishment of two separate dedicated incubator centres for women entrepreneurs, with an allocation of ₹10.70 crore for each incubator.

Support to selected entrepreneurs

Officials said the programme adopts a “Challenge Fund” approach to identify scalable and growth-oriented enterprises. Selected entrepreneurs will receive end-to-end support, including business diagnostics, formalisation, branding, market access, digital onboarding, mentoring and financial guidance.

Transforming rural micro-enterprises into market-ready businesses

The initiative also envisages the use of IT-enabled monitoring systems to track the growth and performance of enterprises. The objective is to help rural micro-enterprises transition into self-sustaining and market-ready businesses capable of generating local employment opportunities.

The State currently has around 67 lakh women associated with self-help groups (SHG). Nearly 6.43 lakh of them are already engaged in various businesses across the State.

SERP CEO Divya Devarajan, T-Hub CEO Kavikrut, WE-Hub CEO Seetha Pallachola, SERP Non-Farm Director Johnson and others attended the event.