Filing GST, business set up cost knowledge main challenges among rural entrepreneurs: Survey

New Delhi, Apr 4 (Representative) The rural and semi-urban entrepreneurs face several challenges but inability to file and manage business taxes like GST and lack of awareness of business set up cost are key problems, finds a survey by Bhartiya Yuva Shkati Trust (BYST). The BYST conducted a study across 20 cities in 12 states among rural and semi-urban entrepreneurs and concluded that the top challenges identified include navigating the complexities of managing and filing business taxes (43 per cent), lack of awareness regarding the associated costs, time requirements, and minimum capital investment (43 per cent), and a significant knowledge gap on Goods and Services Tax (GST) intricacies (28 per cent). Another significant finding that emerged in this survey highlights that while 60 percent of these entrepreneurs embrace digital payment methods, and a mere 26 per cent leverage e-commerce platforms, exposing a considerable gap in digital adoption, BYST said in a release. “The objective of this survey is to address the challenges that hinders the rural entrepreneurs to establish and run a sustainable enterprise while tapping the potential of digitization in the new age India.

There is an urgent need to support and mentor these entrepreneurs (knows as grampreneurs) with a special and customized ease of doing business indicator, since they will be the key drivers of India’s economic growth,” says Ms Lakshmi Venkataraman Venkatesan, Founding and Managing Trustee, BYST. BYST has curated many customized programs to enable and empower rural entrepreneurs on their digital capabilities. It is time we moved past Unicorns and Decacorns and looked at Deep Bharat entrepreneurship, she added. Among these entrepreneurs, the total investment involved is approximately Rs. 600 crores. BYST provided support to around 2000 entrepreneurs in the previous financial year and banks disbursed around Rs. 110 crores highlighting the challenges they face while setting up their new business and not tapping the potential of Digital India. The study also highlighted that more than 44 per cent of women entrepreneurs struggle while running their business as compared to 36 per cent of men. Only 13 per cent women grassroot entrepreneurs are present on e-commerce network and 44 per cent of them use digital payment applications in their businesses. “Women rural entrepreneurs need special skills and mentoring to become successful and sustainable MSME entrepreneurs.

They should be equipped with the appropriate digital capabilities to penetrate their businesses in tier II and tier III markets”, Lakshmi said. The 9,000+ sample size was drawn from Faridabad and Gurugram (Haryana), Sikar (Rajasthan), Uddham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand), Rayagada and Bhubaneshwar (Odisha), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Hyderabad (Telangana), Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh), Pune, Aurangabad, Wardha, Satara, Karad, Sangli, Kolhapur (Maharashtra), and Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh). The BYST mentored rural entrepreneurs have generated 64,125 direct and 256,500 indirect employment opportunities as of FY 2023. More than 98 per cent of loan of BYST mentored entrepreneurs are regular in repayment, 1 per cent repaying with some delay and only 0.92 per cent are Non-Performing Assets. The survey concluded that mentoring the viable business ideas of these rural entrepreneurs by policy makers, industry leaders and non-profits will help in turning these job seekers to job creators in the MSME value chain and to make them digitally ready.