The Ministry of Rural Development, through Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission, organised a two-day national consultation on SHE-MARTs in Bhubaneswar on 14 and 15 May 2026, hosted by the Odisha Livelihoods Mission and facilitated by PRADAN as the national support organisation. The meeting aimed to operationalise the Budget Announcement 2026 and to convert policy direction into state-level implementation pathways.

Participants included State Mission Directors, chief executive officers of State Rural Livelihoods Missions, NABARD officials, sector experts, development practitioners, financial institutions and ecosystem partners who deliberated on measures to strengthen women-led rural enterprises and market systems. The consultation sought to finalise operational guidelines through ground feedback from States and Union Territories, focusing on institutional architecture, financing, convergence, monitoring, business processes, governance and technology.

The inaugural session was led by the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, who delivered a virtual keynote emphasising that DAY-NRLM must prioritise enterprise development and market integration. Officials stated that SHE-MARTs should emerge as community-owned retail and aggregation systems led by women collectives rather than subsidy-driven models. Ministry joint secretaries described the consultation as a working platform for States to examine the draft framework and identify implementation gaps.

State mission representatives highlighted Odisha's experience in building decentralised women-led enterprise ecosystems through Mission Shakti, while technical presentations set out the evolution and strategic vision of SHE-MART and the need to shift from livelihood promotion to enterprise-led rural market systems. Officials also outlined convergence opportunities with VB-GRAM-G for women-centric infrastructure, demand generation and market support.

Panel discussions and five thematic subgroup reviews refined the draft operational framework and design principles, and day two concentrated on human resources, technical design and capacity building with emphasis on professional retail management while retaining women-led governance. The consultation concluded with a commitment to finalise guidelines and support implementation, and with a ministry pledge to create 30 million (mn) Lakhpati Didis by 2029 and assist SRLMs in establishing SHE-MARTs as sustainable rural marketing platforms to enhance income and market access for women-led producer collectives.