Leap 300 Partners with Four States to Support 5 Lakh Rural Women Entrepreneurs

Government programmes in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar are partnering with Leap 300 to support more than 5 lakh rural women entrepreneurs through artificial intelligence (AI)-powered business guidance, digital tools and on-ground assistance.

The initiative aims to help women from low-income rural households establish and expand sustainable businesses by using existing government networks. The model combines business planning, entrepreneurship training, personalised AI assistance and financial management tools in a structured 300-day programme.

Under the initiative, women use the Leap 300 beneficiary app to prepare AI-assisted business plans, learn business skills through voice-based training and maintain digital accounts. Its AI advisor, Vyapar Mitra, provides personalised recommendations and on-demand guidance in local languages. The platform also trains government field workers to deliver consistent support to entrepreneurs.

Uttar Pradesh: Programme targets one lakh households

In Uttar Pradesh, Leap 300 is collaborating with the state Planning Department under the Zero Poverty Programme. The partnership targets one lakh households over three years, including 50,000 in the first year. The model could potentially be extended to around 12.36 lakh households identified under the state's Zero Poverty initiative.

Haryana: Credit-linked entrepreneurship

A planned partnership with the Haryana State Rural Livelihoods Mission aims to support 1,200 women entrepreneurs over three years. The programme will combine access to credit with business planning, AI-based guidance and trained field-level support.

Punjab: Faster business launches and higher incomes

Under Punjab's credit-linked PEHEL programme, monthly loan disbursements increased from four to 25 per block, while the time required to launch a business declined from around three months to 12 days. The share of first-time entrepreneurs rose from 15% to 45%, with participants operating 51 types of businesses.

Women with at least three months of business history recorded approximately 1.5 times their baseline income. The programme has also reported 100% loan repayment to date. Punjab aims to support 1.5 lakh women entrepreneurs over the longer term.

Bihar: Diversification beyond livestock

In Bihar's JEEViKA Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana, fewer than 1% of businesses in Leap 300's pilot were livestock-based, compared with around 60% in the broader programme in the same blocks. Participants instead established retail, food and skilled-service enterprises.

By September 2026, 87% of relevant trained participants had used Vyapar Mitra, while 95% regularly maintained digital business accounts. A separate JEEViKA collaboration under MMRY/JHUUM has a broader roadmap covering three lakh households.

Leap 300 Co-founder Vinod Raghuwanshi said AI could make personalised business expertise accessible to rural women through existing government networks. The organisation said its broader programme has recorded a 90% graduation rate and an average income increase of around 250%. The state partnerships seek to extend this model, although the reported outcomes may vary with implementation and local conditions.