Chandigarh:
— In Munsiwala village, Sangrur, Manjeet Kaur’s family once depended entirely on her husband’s factory income of ₹12,000–13,000 a month.
Today, they run two businesses. Her husband operates a kulcha cart earning ₹400–500 a day, while Manjeet runs a beauty parlour of her own, earning another ₹300–400 a day. Together, their household income has nearly doubled.
Her journey reflects the larger ambition of PEHEL, led by the Punjab Development Commission (PDC) and being implemented through the Department of Rural Development: helping women move beyond access to credit and become successful entrepreneurs with the plan to create 1.5 lakh+ women entrepreneurs in next 5 years.
“PEHEL was created to help women translate access to credit into economic opportunity. The results show what becomes possible when finance is combined with the right business choice, structured support and technology.”
– Seema Bansal, Vice-Chairperson, Punjab Development Commission
“Credit opens the door. The real breakthrough is helping every woman know what to build before the money arrives — and supporting her as that business grows.”
– Vinod Raghuwanshi, Co-Founder, Leap 300
Working with Leap 300, PEHEL has added a 300-day technology-enabled entrepreneurship journey around Punjab’s existing SHG credit system — helping women identify the right business, prepare before funds arrive, launch quickly, and continue growing with support from Sakhis, digital learning and AI-powered Vyapar Mitra.
PEHEL’s deployment of Leap 300 Technology has had immediate results. Loans facilitated per month per block have increased from around 4 to 25, while business launch time has fallen from roughly three months to 12 days. So far, 237 women across 50 villages have received ₹1.1 crore in credit, with 100% repayment to date. The share of first-time entrepreneurs has risen from 15% to 45%, and women have started 51 different types of businesses.
The enterprises span tailoring, beauty services, tuition centres, electronics, food businesses, repair services and more. Participation in post-launch support remains above 90%.
The programme is now expanding from four blocks in Sangrur toward nine blocks across Sangrur and Rupnagar, with a longer-term pathway to reach approximately 1 lakh women across Punjab over four years through the state’s existing SHG, credit and frontline infrastructure.
A rigorous evaluation of the model is also planned across the full 300-day journey, covering income, business and household outcomes.
Punjab’s emerging model is simple: don’t stop at giving women credit. Give them what it takes to build a business with it.
About Punjab Development Commission / PEHEL
The Punjab Development Commission leads PEHEL, a credit-led livelihood initiative designed to expand entrepreneurship opportunities for women across Punjab’s Self-Help Group ecosystem.
About Leap 300
Leap 300 is a technology enabled microenterprise programme that helps vulnerable households build sustainable businesses over a structured 300 day journey. Its model combines initial capital, entrepreneurship skilling and AI powered personalized support.Across its broader programme, Leap 300 has recorded a 91 percent graduation rate and an average income increase of around 150 percent. Learn more at leap300.org.
