India needs to increase women workforce to global average of 48 pc: Kant

New Delhi: India needs to increase women’s participation in the workforce to global average of 48 per cent in next 10 years as it will add another USD 700 billion to the GDP growth, a senior official said on Friday.

It is not possible for India to grow at high rates of 9-10 per cent if half of the population is not in the workforce, and necessarily, that responsibility falls on men to ensure that women get into position of leadership, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.

“Women have to play a very critical role because by next decade we will have 75 million women getting into the workforce in India. At present, India has only about 27 per cent women in the workforce and we have to take it to the world average of 48 per cent.

“And if you are able to take it to 48 per cent, we will be adding close of USD 700 billion to India’s economy,” Kant said while launching Women Transforming India (WTI) award entries for this year.

Wherever opportunities were given to women, they have done better than men in India. And therefore, Niti Aayog’s view has been that there is a need to create entrepreneurship amongst women, he added.

The first award under WTI were given in December 2018 by the Vice President of India and the next will be announced by the end of this year.

Niti Aayog has partnered with various bodies such as the United Nations, PwC and WhatsApp to bring more women under entrepreneurship drive.