Financial inclusion important for economic empowerment of women: Thakur

Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday urged women entrepreneurs to use digital technology to help small businesses become resilient and champions of change.

Addressing the 40th Annual Session of the FICCI Ladies Organisation, Thakur said financial inclusion and going digital was critical to achieving the economic empowerment of women.

"Women must be a larger part of the economic development. Empowering women, addressing their concerns and amplifying their voices is a priority for the present government," Thakur said.

He said India has the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world with 1.2 lakh start-ups and 110 Unicorns.

"Women's contribution will be much more when India will move to become the 3rd largest economy in the next three years," he said.

"Adoption of advanced technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) by women can serve as a tool for growth for small businesses in building their resilient capacity," he said.

Adoption of digitalisation by small businesses means having the flexibility to adapt to disruptions and continue their operations, he said.

"Small entrepreneurs in small cities and villages are the backbone of India's economy and play an intrinsic role in India achieving its ambitions of becoming the third largest economy by the year 2030," said Thakur.