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Phulkari Embroidery: ₹500 Crore Market, 90% Women Artisans
“Golden State, Golden Women”
Punjab's Phulkari — embroidery using coloured silk threads on coarse cotton cloth — is one of India's most beloved textile traditions. Meaning "flower work" in Punjabi, Phulkari has been made by women for thousands of years as gifts for daughters' trousseaus and festival celebrations. Today, the ₹500 crore Phulkari market sees women artisans producing shawls, dupattas, and home furnishings sold in premium stores across India and exported to the Indian diaspora in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Phulkari is Punjab's women's gift to the world's fashion markets.
Punjab's agricultural prosperity — the breadbasket of India — is built on the daily labour of women farmers. In dairy, women handle 40% of milk production and play critical roles in cooperative management. The state's agro-processing sector — wheat flour, basmati rice, dairy products, packaged foods — increasingly sees women as factory supervisors, quality managers, and enterprise owners. Women-led food processing SHGs in Punjab produce pickles, papads, spices, and packaged snacks that supply national and international markets.
The IT corridor connecting Mohali and Chandigarh has opened technology careers for Punjab's educated women. Women in Mohali's technology parks provide software development, data analytics, and business process services to companies in North America and Europe. This is a first-generation transition — daughters of farmers and factory workers entering the knowledge economy — and it is happening fast. Punjab women are simultaneously masters of a 3,000-year textile tradition and pioneers of a 21st-century technology economy.
Politics & Social Enterprise
Led initiatives for women's economic development in Punjab, championing MSME support for women artisans and advocating for better market access for Phulkari and food processing enterprises
Education & Women's Enterprise Leadership
Promoted women's entrepreneurship education in Punjab, building networks that connect women artisans and food processors to national and international markets through institutional support
Phulkari shawls and textiles from Punjab reach Indian diaspora communities in Canada (1 million Punjabis), the UK (700,000 Punjabis), and the United States. Punjab's basmati rice, processed significantly by women workers, is one of India's largest agricultural exports to Europe and the Middle East. Punjabi women's food processing products — from papads to pickles to dairy goods — supply Indian grocery stores in 30+ countries. Punjab women feed and clothe the world.
Digital products designed to help you start, grow, and scale your business — wherever you are in India.
Showcase your Phulkari textiles and food products to the world
Export your Phulkari or food products to the Indian diaspora globally
Automate your IT or food business operations with AI tools
Master digital marketing and export basics for Punjab entrepreneurs
Join thousands of women entrepreneurs from Punjab and across India who use Srishti Digital Store to grow their businesses online.
Punjab has 18 lakh+ women in SHGs, with 90% of Phulkari artisans being women, 40% of dairy producers being women, and growing numbers in IT/BPO and food processing. Punjab's strong agricultural economy and IT growth corridor create multiple high-income paths for women entrepreneurs.
Phulkari (flower work) is a centuries-old Punjab embroidery tradition where women stitch coloured silk patterns on cotton cloth. Traditional Phulkari was a labour of love — months of stitching for a daughter's wedding. Today, Phulkari shawls sell for ₹3,000 to ₹50,000, with high-end pieces going for more. The Indian diaspora — 4+ million Punjabis outside India — creates a ready international market that is growing every year.
Punjab is India's wheat bowl, and women's roles in agro-processing extend from farm to factory. Women process basmati rice (India's largest agricultural export), manage dairy cooperatives that produce export-quality milk products, and run food processing units that supply Indian grocery stores globally. Punjab women are in the supply chain of every major Indian food export.
Women in Phulkari enterprise use Instagram and WhatsApp Business to reach diaspora buyers globally. Food processing women use online marketplaces to sell directly to urban consumers. IT women in Mohali use professional platforms for client acquisition. Social media templates for textile and food businesses are the most popular digital tools among Punjab women entrepreneurs.
For Phulkari: photograph your embroidery work in beautiful natural light, build an Instagram page targeting the Indian diaspora in Canada and the UK, price correctly (Phulkari is premium, not cheap), and use social media templates for consistent content. For food: start with local WhatsApp communities, then build an Instagram page, then scale to Swiggy Instamart or BigBasket. Srishti Digital Store's business eBooks cover both journeys in detail.