India can add 18% to GDP if gender equality gap is bridged

Economic Survey 2020-21 says, Indian startup ecosystem has the potential to be a growth engine in the medium to long run. "India can add 18 per cent to its GDP (approximately $770 billion) if it can bridge its gender equality gap by improving female workforce participation in the country," says Amit Doshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Britannia Industries in an exclusive interview with Bizz Buzz

Mumbai: Here are the excerpts from the interview.

What is the current scenario of the Startup industry in India, and women constituting a major portion of it?

Startups are being highly encouraged by the Government of India. To facilitate the growth of startups, the Indian government had announced the 'Startup India, Stand-up India' initiative. As on December 23, 2020, the Indian government has recognised a total of 41,061 startups and 4.7 lakh jobs have been reported by more than 39,000 startups.

According to the Economic Survey 2020-21, Indian startup ecosystem has the potential to be a growth engine in medium to long run. India can add 18 per cent to its GDP (approximately $770 billion) if it can bridge its gender equality gap by improving female workforce participation in the country. For developing countries, women's workforce participation is closely linked with entrepreneurship and self-employment. Small and micro businesses are significantly contributing to job creation.

Women's labour force participation was 18.6 per cent for rural and urban India for the period 2018-2019 as noted in the latest PLFS survey. This gap highlights that there is much work to be done with respect to supporting women, to help improve their labour force participation. Entrepreneurship provides a key pathway for achieving this.

Women constitute about 48.9 per cent of the population of India but their contribution to the GDP stands at 18 per cent as opposed to a global average of 37 per cent as only 14 per cent of them make it to the total number of entrepreneurs in the country.

Some of the barriers faced by these women while starting their entrepreneurial journey range from the age-old domestic duties attached to gender roles, lack of finances, lack of guidance, low self-esteem, and the lack of strong, organised support structures.

Our Britannia Marie Gold Women Entrepreneurship Survey Report 2021 highlighted that even though 62 per cent of homemakers had the aspiration to start their own business, the biggest hurdle for them was the lack of enough funds and lack of guidance in their skills.

The overall number of homemakers willing to launch their ownstartup has gone up considerably in the last three years. Homemakers have always been a very important consumer segment for Britannia, and we wanted to identify a way to democratise the entrepreneurship journey for India's homemakers.

What are the challenges faced by women who wish to start enterprises and Britannia's solution to provide a platform like Marie Gold My Startup?

Some of the barriers faced by these women while starting their entrepreneurial journey range from the age-old domestic duties attached to gender roles, lack of finances, lack of guidance, low self-esteem, and the lack of strong, organised support structures.

What was the idea behind the Marie Gold My Startup initiative and Britannia's aim to make homemakers job creators through this platform?

Since the beginning, Marie Gold has immensely valued the Indian homemaker. Marie Gold started as the homemaker's teatime companion for years and has been her partner in her chai time – her downtime.

However, with changing times, the brand has evolved along with the homemaker greatly: from being a 'homemaker's downtime partner' to 'a fuel which allows her to achieve more in her everyday life.'

Thus, with the Marie Gold My Startup initiative, we wanted to identify a way to give India's homemakers a platform to kickstart their entrepreneurship journey.

What are the findings of the Britannia Marie Gold Women

Entrepreneurship Survey 2021 with Momspresso and how it helped Britannia to curate the Season 3 Campaign?

As per the Britannia Marie Gold Women Entrepreneurship Survey 2021, 77 per cent women willing to start their journey as an entrepreneur see technology and the digital platform as an enabler to take their first step. Considering the large number of women seeking technological guidance, we broadened our campaign to respond to the need for homemakers to learn how to grow their businesses through a collaboration with Google digital skilling resources.

To help the homemakers learn the technical skills, Google and Britannia have come together to curate content offering in the form of startup courses in six different languages consolidated on one platform. This collaboration is expected to enable several more aspiring women entrepreneurs to understand the basics of business through a digital skilling program.