A study has reported that in the last 16 years, only 177 PhDs in Entrepreneurship have been awarded by Indian universities, when compared to 20,271 in social science, indicating that doctoral research on entrepreneurship is yet to pick up in Indian universities despite government’s efforts to promote it. Only 66 universities have awarded PhDs in entrepreneurship as per the study, which covered PhD output across 740 recognised universities in the country. "Women entrepreneurship" is identified as the preferred area of research.
Out of 177 PhDs in the subject, it is noted that 73 were female researchers and 104 were male researchers, while 167 had been done in English and the other 10 in Hindi. 25 PhDs have been awarded by the University of Maharashtra, which awarded the largest number of PhDs on a state wise comparison, followed by Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, in that order.
Analysis of the various patterns of entrepreneurship research that has occurred in the last 16 years was the objective of the study, along with observing the geographical and gender wise split of PhD holders from universities around the country. The researcher, Kavita Saxena, faculty member of the elite Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), reported that there is ample scope to expand research into topics like entrepreneurial movement and state-level entrepreneurship policies. More qualitative research results can be obtained if universities actively tie up with family business enterprises and budding corporates. She concluded saying that PhD researchers in entrepreneurship and new upcoming ventures can help each other by allowing doctoral students to help them with understanding the nuances of business opportunity identification, preparation of business plan and similar processes of establishing a start-up.