She-Mart Shops Launched from Keralam to Link Women to Markets

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah launched a set of women empowerment and cooperation initiatives at the Pavithram Convention Centre in Kollam, Keralam, on 26 September 2026. He inaugurated the Vanitham She-Mart Shops remotely, launched the sale of the NCCF brand Janah and flagged off mobile vans selling onions at a subsidised price of 35 rupees a kilogram. Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Tourism Suresh Gopi was present.

What She-Mart is

She-Mart is meant to connect women self-help groups and rural women entrepreneurs straight to markets and consumers. It was announced by the Union Finance Minister in the Budget, and the first shops have opened in Keralam. More than 300 She-Mart stores are planned across Keralam, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, selling local produce along with Bharat Brand goods. Together with the more than 2,500 retail outlets of the NCCF, they give farmers and women entrepreneurs a route to the shelf, covering procurement, processing, branding, packaging and retail sale. Institutions such as NAFED, Kendriya Bhandar and Amul are to help women-led enterprises grow.

Agreements signed

• An MoU between the NCCF and The Central Financial Credit and Investment Co-operative (India) Limited, the partner that developed the Vanitham She-Mart Shops.
• An MoU for supply-chain logistics of fisheries products of the Bharatiya Matsya Pravartak Sangham with the Janah brand.
• An MoU between the NCCF and Bharat Lajhna Sahakari Samiti to open 300 She-Mart shops in Keralam, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Figures on women's empowerment

Mr Shah said the share of women in the labour force has climbed from about 23 per cent in 2017-18 to roughly 40 per cent now. Bank accounts of nearly 36 crore women have been opened, the practice of triple talaq has been prohibited, Muslim women may now perform Haj without a male companion, more than 11,000 women officers serve in the armed forces and maternity leave has been fixed at 26 weeks. The target of about 3 crore Lakhpati Didis was met before 2024 and the aim now is 6 crore by 2029. Around 8 lakh farmers are linked with the NAFED and nearly 6 lakh women farmers with the NCCF.

Keralam's cooperative strength

The minister said Keralam has more than 23,000 working cooperative institutions and a movement that has been strong in Travancore, Kochi and Malabar since before Independence. He also pointed to the state's potential in the blue economy, its long coastline, backwaters and fisheries. At the event, free urad and gram seed kits were given to women farmers under the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, and scholarship cheques were handed to daughters of registered farmers under the NAFED-Kalyan Scholarship Scheme, which covers girls from nearly 2,000 families. Onions, Bharat Atta and Bharat Rice are being sold in Keralam through mobile vans of the NAFED.