New Delhi, March 9 India's overall workforce participation in paid work must rise to 60 per cent from the current 47 per cent, and engaging women in the labor force will be critical in achieving the Viksit Bharat goal by 2047, an Axis Bank study said on Monday.
The study highlighted that currently, India has one of the lowest female labor force participation rates in paid work among G20 economies. Even employed women are mostly in agriculture, self-employment, or in unpaid work.
The study, titled "The Missing Half: Women and India's Growth Challenge," is based on a survey of nearly 11,000 college-educated women across 42 Indian cities.
It revealed that 12.5 crore educated women are outside the workforce, with 60 per cent of graduates opting to stay out of paid work.
According to the study, safety and mobility are cited as the top barriers to entering the workforce by about 61 per cent of respondents.
"To sustain a growth of around 7 per cent over 25 years, which is necessary for 'Viksit Bharat'..., overall worker participation in paid work must rise from about 47 per cent to nearly 60 per cent. Women’s participation in paid work will be critical to achieving this," the Axis Bank study said.
Rajkamal Vempati, Group Executive & Head Human Resources, Axis Bank, said, "For organizations to sustain growth, they need to redesign careers for fluidity – allowing women to enter and return to the workforce without penalty."
"Adding 22 per cent to women's workforce participation isn't just a social goal, it is the single most important economic lever we have," Vempati added.
According to the study, India, which still has a large "marriage penalty" in addition to the "motherhood penalty" and other biases, must address challenges with job design, childcare support, and re-entry pathways to accelerate women workforce participation.
"We must raise the demand for labor, improve urban infrastructure, remove outdated legal barriers, and work on childcare facilities and workplace flexibility to get the 'missing half' into the workforce," said Neelkanth Mishra, Chief Economist, Axis Bank.
The report also called for coordinated action to expand jobs in sectors where women work at scale, formalize flexible and part-time roles, invest in childcare and safer urban mobility, remove outdated regulatory barriers, and strengthen leadership pipelines.