The World Bank’s South Asia Development Update released on Thursday, that India‘s manufacturing sector could experience a 9% increase in output if more women enter the workforce.
The World Bank has also upheld its projections for India’s GDP growth at 7% for FY25 and 6.7% for FY26.
It expects the overall growth in South Asia to reach 6.4% in 2024, bolstered by strong domestic demand in India and a quicker recovery in countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The report highlighted that a robust agricultural output, alongside policies aimed at enhancing employment growth, would drive private consumption, while public consumption growth is anticipated to slow in alignment with fiscal consolidation efforts outlined in the budget.
The findings revealed a concerning trend regarding female labor force participation in the region, indicating that, on average, the proportion of women employed after marriage in India and three other South Asian countries—Maldives, Nepal, and Bangladesh—drops by 12 percentage points compared to before marriage.
Martin Raiser, the World Bank Vice-President for South Asia, emphasized that implementing key policy reforms to better integrate women into the workforce and eliminate obstacles to global investment and trade could significantly boost economic growth.
“Our research shows that raising female labour force participation rates in the region to those of men would increase regional GDP by up to 51 per cent,” Raiser added.
Recent data from the July-June 2023-24 Periodic Labour Force Survey shows that India’s female labor force participation rate (LFPR) rose to 41.7% in FY24, a significant increase from 23.3% in FY18.
