Delhi Women Startup Loan Scheme (Financial Assistance to Women Entrepreneurs for Self-Employment)

What is the Delhi Women Startup Loan Scheme?

"Delhi Women Startup Loan Scheme" is a name used by scheme-listing websites rather than by the Delhi government. No scheme carrying that exact title appears in the Government of NCT of Delhi's own notifications. What does exist, and what this guide is built on, is the scheme published by the Women Entrepreneurs Cell (WEC) of the Office of the Commissioner of Industries, Department of Industries, Government of NCT of Delhi, titled "Financial Assistance to Women Entrepreneurs for Self-Employment".

That distinction matters, because a reader who walks into a Delhi government office asking for the "Women Startup Loan Scheme" will be sent away. Ask for the Women Entrepreneurs Cell scheme at Udyog Sadan, Patparganj instead.

According to the notice published by the Joint Commissioner of Industries (WEC) on the department's website, applications are invited for subsidy and loan assistance to women entrepreneurs for self-employment in the age group of 18 to 45 years, whose family income is below Rs 48,000 per annum, with a minimum educational qualification of class VIII passed.

What the assistance consists of

• Financial assistance up to Rs 1,00,000 for setting up a manufacturing unit in Delhi.
• A subsidy component of 15 percent for general category applicants and 25 percent for under-privileged classes, the notice names SC, ST, OBC, handicapped, widow and divorcee applicants, subject to a maximum of Rs 15,000.
• The rest of the assistance is a loan, with interest chargeable at 9.5 percent per annum, and an additional 2 percent per annum in case of default in timely payment of instalments.

The unit must produce an item or product permissible under the Household Category as per the locational parameters prescribed in the Master Plan for Delhi. The department publishes the list of permissible items on its website under the Women Entrepreneurs Cell section and issues it with the application form.

Who is eligible for the Women Entrepreneurs Cell scheme, and who is not?

You can apply if:

• You are a woman setting up a manufacturing unit in Delhi.
• Your age is between 18 and 45 years.
• Your family income is below Rs 48,000 per annum.
• You have passed at least class VIII.
• Your proposed product is in the household-category list published by the department, and the site satisfies the locational parameters of the Master Plan for Delhi.
• You have applied for an NOC from the High Powered Committee through the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's Factory Licensing Department.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You are a man. This scheme is confined to women entrepreneurs; men should look at Rajiv Gandhi Swavlamban Rozgar Yojana of the Delhi Khadi & Village Industries Board or the DSFDC schemes.
• You are under 18 or over 45 years old.
• Your family income is Rs 48,000 a year or more, on the department's published criterion.
• You have not passed class VIII.
• Your proposed activity is pure trading or a service, rather than manufacturing. The notice speaks specifically of setting up manufacturing units.
• Your product is not in the household-category list, or your site does not satisfy the Master Plan locational parameters for household industry.
• You have not applied for the High Powered Committee NOC before submitting the assistance application.

How to apply for financial assistance as a woman entrepreneur in Delhi

1. Pick a product from the permissible list. Download the list of items allowed under the Household Category from the Women Entrepreneurs Cell section of industries.delhi.gov.in, or collect it with the application form. Choosing a product outside the list ends the application before it starts.
2. Check the Master Plan locational parameters for your address. Household industry is permitted only in specified land uses. Verify this before you sign a rent agreement.
3. Apply for the NOC from the High Powered Committee through the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (Factory Licensing Department). Keep the acknowledgement receipt. The department requires it to be attached to the assistance application.
4. Collect the prescribed application form free of cost from the reception counter on the ground floor of Udyog Sadan, 419 FIE, Patparganj, Delhi-110092, between 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on any working day. It can also be downloaded from the department's website.
5. Assemble the supporting papers; age proof, family income proof, the class VIII certificate, proof of the work place, and the specimen affidavit the department publishes under "Identification of Beneficiaries".
6. Submit the complete application with the NOC acknowledgement receipt at the Office of the Commissioner of Industries, Udyog Sadan, Patparganj, and take a dated acknowledgement.
7. Confirm the current terms in writing before you commit money. The scheme document hosted by the department carries an old submission date, so ask at the counter, or on 011-44467923, whether the Rs 1,00,000 ceiling, the Rs 48,000 income limit and the 9.5 percent rate are the ones in force.

What documents are required?

• Prescribed application form of the Women Entrepreneurs Cell, issued free.
• Age proof establishing that you are between 18 and 45.
• Family income proof, against the department's Rs 48,000 per annum limit.
• Education certificate showing class VIII passed.
• Details of the proposed manufacturing item, matched to the published household-category list.
• Proof of the work place in Delhi, at a location where household industry is permitted under the Master Plan.
• Acknowledgement receipt of the application for an NOC from the High Powered Committee, filed through MCD's Factory Licensing Department.
• Specimen affidavit as published by the Women Entrepreneurs Cell.

How do you check the status of your application?

There is no online tracker for this scheme. Status is checked at the Office of the Commissioner of Industries, Udyog Sadan, 419 FIE, Patparganj Industrial Area, Delhi-110092, telephone 011-44467923, email comind@nic.in. Carry the dated acknowledgement of your submission and, separately, the acknowledgement of your High Powered Committee NOC application, because the two move on different tracks and the assistance file usually waits on the NOC.

Why applications stall, and what to do instead

• The NOC is not applied for. The department requires the NOC application to precede the assistance application. Many files sit unprocessed simply because this step was skipped.
• The item is not in the household-category list. Check the list before buying machinery.
• The income limit. A family income limit of Rs 48,000 a year is low by today's standards and rules out most applicants. If your household is above it, the schemes below are the realistic route.
• The scheme document is dated. The notice published on the department's website carries a submission date of 30 November 2007. The department continues to host the scheme material under a live Women Entrepreneurs Cell menu, but the figures should be confirmed at the counter. This guide reports only the numbers the department itself publishes and does not substitute newer ones.

Better-funded alternatives for women in Delhi, all verified on official portals:

• Dilli Swarojgar Yojana: Delhi SC/ST/OBC/Minorities & Handicapped Finance & Development Corporation lends up to Rs 5,00,000 at 6 percent per annum to SC, ST, OBC and minority residents of Delhi aged 18 to 50 with family income up to Rs 2 lakh, for 26 listed trades including tailoring, beauty parlour, bakery, kiryana and boutique-type garment shops. Form Rs 100, processing fee Rs 500.
• Composite Loan Scheme (DSFDC); up to Rs 3,00,000 for SC applicants and Rs 1,00,000 for OBC, minority and disabled applicants, family income up to Rs 1.20 lakh, form free, processing fee Rs 350. No guarantor is needed up to Rs 50,000.
• Rajiv Gandhi Swavlamban Rozgar Yojana (DKVIB) — up to Rs 3,00,000 with a 15 percent subsidy capped at Rs 7,500, where a woman applicant contributes only 5 percent of the amount demanded instead of the 10 percent required from general applicants. Applications can be filed online on the Delhi e-District portal.
• Special Awards for Outstanding Women Entrepreneurs, the same Women Entrepreneurs Cell runs an award for established women-run manufacturing and trading units, with its own application form on the department's website. It is recognition, not finance, but it is real and it is open to women who have already built a unit.

What are the key dates and the current position?

The Women Entrepreneurs Cell scheme is advertised rather than run on a permanent open window: the department's published notice invites applications and names a closing date. The notice currently hosted on industries.delhi.gov.in carries a submission date of 30 November 2007, so there is no verified open window at the time of writing, and this guide does not claim one. The Women Entrepreneurs Cell menu: Entrepreneurs, Financial Assistance, Identification of Beneficiaries, Special Awards for Women, Forms; remains live on the department's site, and the site's own page footer records a last update of 31 July 2026.

The practical advice is therefore simple. Telephone 011-44467923 or visit Udyog Sadan before you invest in certificates, and ask two questions: whether the Women Entrepreneurs Cell is currently inviting applications, and what the sanctioned ceiling, income limit and interest rate are today. If the answer is that no fresh advertisement is out, apply under Dilli Swarojgar Yojana or the DSFDC Composite Loan Scheme instead, both of which take applications through the year.

How do you raise a grievance?

Address the Joint Commissioner of Industries (Women Entrepreneurs Cell), Office of the Commissioner of Industries, Udyog Sadan, 419 FIE, Patparganj Industrial Area, Delhi-110092, telephone 011-44467923, email comind@nic.in. That is the officer under whose signature the scheme notice is issued.

If the department does not respond, use the Government of NCT of Delhi's public grievance system, and file an RTI application with the Public Information Officer of the Department of Industries to obtain the current status of the scheme and of your file. The department's website also carries a Vigilance Complaint Information Management System (VCIMS) link for complaints of a different kind.

A final caution. Because no scheme is officially named the "Delhi Women Startup Loan Scheme", advertisements offering to arrange a loan under that name are worth treating with suspicion. Every genuine Delhi government route described above issues its form from a government counter, free at the Department of Industries and DSFDC's Composite Loan Scheme, Rs 100 for Dilli Swarojgar Yojana, and none of them uses agents.