Irani pitches for investment in women-led businesses

Davos: Union minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday made a strong pitch for bigger investments in women-led businesses, saying India has shown the world why it is an intelligent case.

Lauding the role played by small businesses run by women across the country, she said the opportunity lies in taking the success stories of women-led businesses and making them attain more and more scale and size.

"There are many sectors where women account for a large majority including textiles and agriculture-related businesses," she said at a CII session here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024.

"India has shown the world why it makes for an intelligent case to invest in small businesses led by women," she said.

One thing that India's G20 presidency ensured was that gender issues were not pushed to the sidelines, the minister for women and child development said.

"Before India's presidency, gender was compelled to depend on civil society actions. The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought it to the centre stage and told economies across the world that the gender issues are not only rhetorically addressed and that policy also needs to flow in that direction, that tells a lot about our commitment," Irani said.

"Our message is clear that when you invest in India, you invest for global good. PM Modi is the reason we are doing it with scale as well as with speed. It needs leadership to recognise that we have the capacity to leverage our capabilities and global experiences to know what it will take to be ready for the future," she said.

"Nobody could have imagined that India could make the vaccine at a competitive cost and deliver it at such a large scale. What investors need is assurance that one's supply chain is resilient and ours is."

"Second, what investors need is innovation at competitive prices, ours is. Another key deciding factor for investors is whether there is going to be a policy and political uncertainty and anyone who has taken the slightest interest in Indian politics will tell you that Modi is set to return in 2024," she said.