Women’s economic empowerment as a growth imperative
Women-led development has emerged as a central pillar of India’s growth agenda under the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. Achieving the country’s long-term economic ambitions will depend not only on increasing women’s participation in the workforce, but also on strengthening their ownership of enterprises, assets and economic value.
Within this national context, Telangana has articulated one of the country’s most ambitious visions for women’s economic empowerment. Through Telangana Rising 2047, the state seeks to create one crore women millionaires by focusing on women’s enterprise ownership, wealth creation and economic agency. This reflects a shift from participation towards ownership of economic value.
Over the past decade, Telangana has built a strong institutional architecture to support this transition. Approximately 67 lakh women are connected through self-help groups, 92.3% operate their own bank accounts, and women account for the majority of beneficiaries across key financial inclusion schemes. Yet these investments have not translated into women’s enterprise growth at a comparable scale. Fewer than one in ten SHG members are engaged in enterprise activity, only 31.1% of households report female ownership of land and/or housing, and just 1.6–1.9% of self-employed women operate as employers in Telangana.
Strengthening economic agency
Achieving this transition requires moving beyond traditional measures of participation towards strengthening women’s economic agency. This encompasses four interconnected dimensions:
- Income: Greater control over income and productive assets.
- Progression: Opportunities to own and grow enterprises or move into higher-value economic roles.
- Security: Stronger financial resilience and access to social protection.
- Time: Reduced unpaid care responsibilities that constrain economic participation.
Entrepreneurship contributes to all four dimensions, but is the primary pathway for progression, enabling women to move into enterprise ownership, employer status and higher-value economic roles. It is therefore the dimension most closely aligned with Telangana’s ambition of creating one crore women millionaires.
Despite Telangana’s strong policy architecture for collectivisation, the systems that enable enterprises to grow remain fragmented. Women continue to face constraints in accessing growth capital, commercial markets, business capabilities and entrepreneurial networks. These are further reinforced by:
The next phase of women-led development will therefore depend less on expanding access and more on enabling women-owned enterprises to scale.
The role of corporates in enabling enterprise growth
Corporates are increasingly deploying CSR funds strategically to drive meaningful social impact while aligning with business priorities, creating shared value. This creates an opportunity for CSR to move beyond livelihood promotion towards strengthening the ecosystem that enables women-led enterprises to grow.
Focusing on women economic empowerment is especially relevant for Telangana’s key growth industries such as IT, GCCs and healthcare where gender diversity and inclusion are closely linked to business priorities and ESG commitments.
Current CSR investment patterns indicate considerable scope for greater engagement with women’s economic empowerment. Women’s livelihoods and entrepreneurship account for only 1.3% of CSR expenditure by Telangana-headquartered companies, despite their direct alignment with the state’s wealth creation agenda. This is also reflected in where CSR capital is deployed: while a significant share of CSR expenditure by Telangana-headquartered companies, is concentrated in urban locations like Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy, women’s economic participation is substantially higher in rural areas, creating scope for enterprise-focused investments that better align with the state’s vision for rural economic development
Beyond funding, corporates can also complement the state’s institutional architecture by:
Strengthening access to catalytic finance for enterprise growth.
Expanding market and procurement opportunities for women-led enterprises.
Building the capabilities, mentorship and networks that enable enterprises to scale.
The report brings together evidence, data and emerging models that demonstrate how corporates can translate women’s economic participation into enterprise growth and economic agency, to complement Telangana’s vision of creating one crore women millionaires. Download the full report to explore the evidence underpinning these findings and the strategic opportunities for enabling enterprise growth at scale.
From 67 lakh SHG members to 1 crore millionaires
Accelerating women’s economic empowerment in Telangana
