The number of women in workforce in the country has increased significantly in the last six years and because of that, possibly, the number of startups in the country has increased, said Chairman of the Fourth State Finance Commission of Gujarat, Yamal Vyas, while delivering a talk on “India's Journey to $5 Trillion Economy – Challenges and Opportunities” at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on Thursday. Highlighting an aspect of the Indian economy, Vyas said, “.in 2017-18, the number of women in the workforce was 22%. And now, the number is 37%. So, there has been a significant improvement. This is where manufacturing is, by default, growing because most of the women work in low skill manufacturing jobs – readymade garments, household products, firecrackers.” He further said, “What has happened is that because of this, I don't have the numbers, but this is what has been the experience of the government, too, over the last five years that the number of startups has increased and there is a relationship between the two. Because if the woman in the family is getting a regular income. there is a possibility that the men in the family can take some risk”. “. Now, when women have started working, the men in those families have started taking risks and that is one of the reasons why there has been a spurt in the number of startups.,” he added. On the manufacturing sector, Vyas praised Tamil Nadu while stating that it is one state, which has done a lot of things to grow its manufacturing base, “which other states can do and Gujarat is very close to that”. Because of its policies, Tamil Nadu has been able to attract foreign investments in electronics, automobile and footwear, he added. Speaking on the financial services sector, Vyas said, “The financial services sector, per se, is on the cusp of a very rapid growth in coming years.”He said there are a number of small banks, which will probably get merged into larger banks. “And eventually, there could be five private sector banks and five public sector banks, which will rule the financial-banking segment,” he added. In reply to a question on the biggest challenge for India in becoming a $5 trillion economy, Vyas said, “One is mindset, which we are overcoming, and the second is bureaucracy. and these laws that become hindrance many times. like labour laws, land laws.” He said India is likely to become a $5 trillion economy by 2027-28.
