Women emerging as driving force of India’s growth journey: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Women are emerging as the driving force of India’s growth journey at a time when the country is projected to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol.

Speaking about India’s journey and the implications for Group of 20 or G20 and for the rest of the world of a stronger and more prosperous India, Modi said that many development initiatives are seeing women come to the forefront—be it financial inclusion, entrepreneurship or cleanliness.

“From space to sports, startups to self-help groups, every sector that is on an upswing is seeing women taking the lead. With the G20, now, the message of women-led development is making waves all over the world—this is the power of Indian women,” he said.

There are at least 14 unicorns in India that count a woman among its co-founders. In 2022, when the funding winter debilitated the startup ecosystem, women-founded startups saw investments falling only 14 percent, even as the entire ecosystem witnessed a drop of close to 40 percent.

The Prime Minister stressed that India’s path to becoming the fifth-largest economy is also important, as it was achieved because there is a government that is trusted by the people and the government trusts the capabilities of the people.

“Due to this political stability, every other sector could see deep structural reforms. The economy, education, social empowerment, welfare delivery, infrastructure—I can keep on mentioning sectors that have seen reforms,” he said.

“The cumulative momentum building up from the empowerment of the poor, youth, women and farmers will certainly make India one of the top three economies of the world in the near future,” he said, adding that India’s growth is for the global good.

In a wide-ranging interview, Prime Minister Modi also spoke about how different countries need to work together to combat inflation, the damage from freebies and fiscally irresponsible policies, how climate change is a shared reality for the world and much more.