Bihar to draw modalities for additional ₹200,000 to women entrepreneurs under MMRY

So far, the first instalment of ₹10,000 each has been disbursed to around 1.56 crore women associated with Jeevika, the scheme aims to promote women’s economic independence by supporting one woman from each family to start or expand a livelihood activity

The rural development department of Bihar is preparing a standard operating procedure (SOP) to provide up to ₹200,000 in additional financial assistance to women who have successfully launched businesses with the seed grant of ₹10,000 of under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana (MMRY), officials said on Sunday.

Bihar to draw modalities for additional ₹200,000 to women entrepreneurs under MMRY

Launched jointly by PM Modi and CM Nitish Kumar in September 2025, the scheme aims to promote women’s economic independence by supporting one woman from each family to start or expand a livelihood activity of her choice — ranging from tailoring, food processing and handicrafts to animal husbandry and small retail enterprises. Under the scheme, women entrepreneurs were offered an initial non-refundable grant of ₹10,000 in their bank accounts.

So far, the first instalment has been disbursed to around 1.56 crore women associated with Jeevika, a society formed by the state government to support women empowerment, across 38 districts and a total sum of ₹15,600 crore have been distributed. District-level figures, based on Aadhaar-linked and digitised applications, show particularly high enrolment in Patna (6,20,761 beneficiaries), Purbi Champaran (7,72,452), Muzaffarpur (7,48,325) and other densely populated areas, pushing the statewide total to 1,56,00,010.

(HT GFX)

Officials said fresh applications for the initial ₹10,000 grant had been stopped, while roughly 1.9 million pending cases were still being processed. Attention has now shifted to the second phase: helping promising ventures grow.

The Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, which runs Jeevika and is the state agency to implement the scheme, is finalising the SOP. Once it clears the state cabinet, women whose businesses show viability will be eligible for phased additional funding of up to ₹2 lakh, based on an assessment of performance.

Himanshu Sharma, chief executive officer of Jeevika and state mission director, said that committees at block, district and state levels were being set up to evaluate business plans. “We are working out the detailed criteria for selection, the assessment process and the disbursement mechanism,” Sharma told Hindustan Times.

“Women with scalable and innovative ideas will not only get extra financial support but also specialised training in technical skills, marketing and business management to help them sustain and expand their enterprises,” he added.

The scheme leverages Bihar’s extensive network of over one million women’s self-help groups formed under Jeevika over the past two decades, and dovetails with the Centre’s Lakhpati Didi initiative that seeks to create at least three crore women millionaires through collective enterprise and skill-building.

However, the programme has not been without political friction. Opposition parties, including the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), have accused the Nitish Kumar government of violating the model code of conduct during the 2025 assembly elections by rolling out direct cash transfers close to polling dates. The first instalment of ₹10,000 was credited in the beneficiaries’ bank accounts days before the first phase of polling, while subsequent disbursements continued through the election period. The opposition parties have approached Patna high court against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) silence on it, alleging that the scheme amounted to inducement of voters.

Government sources have defended the timing, pointing out that the scheme was announced well in advance and that administrative processes for beneficiary identification and verification had begun earlier.

As the modalities for disbursement of additional financial help are in final stages of drafting, officials expect the department would move on to providing enhanced support to women entrepreneurs once it’s approved by the cabinet. The scheme will provide thousands of rural women entrepreneurs a crucial boost to turn small start-ups into sustainable businesses.