Vasundhara Raje hails govt initiatives for enabling women to play a crucial role in economic growth

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has said that a number of pro-women initiatives by the government have enabled women to play an impactful role in the growth of the economy.

Addressing the Women’s International Summit on Entrepreneurship (WISE) 2026 here on Friday, Raje credited rural women with strengthening India’s rural economy. She said several government initiatives, such as Lakhpati Didi, Rajeevika, Aajeevika, Annapurna Milk Scheme and Bhamashah, have significantly contributed to women’s economic empowerment.

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Quoting data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), the two-time former CM noted that women’s participation in rural areas has increased from 26 per cent in 2018 to 47 per cent in 2024, while in urban areas it has risen to nearly 30 per cent.

She encouraged women to move forward in a way that not only advances their own aspirations but also creates greater opportunities and smoother pathways for the women of future generations who follow them.

In the inaugural session, former Union Minister Smriti Irani said that understanding and adopting technology has now become essential.

“Be future-ready, embrace change and understand technology, but never let it overpower you,” Irani said. She added that in the years to come, technological advancements such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) would rapidly impact businesses, and everyone must prepare in time.

Referring to the recent layoff of nearly 4,000 employees at Twitter due to AI-driven changes, Irani said that understanding and adopting technology has now become the need of the hour.

The session, titled ‘AI & Digital Transformation – Crafting Future-Ready Businesses’, featured Chetna Jain, Dr Poonam Upadhyay, Srujna Raghupati, Nupur C Sharma, Vishal Maheshwari and Himanshu Singh. The panel discussed how AI is steadily becoming a practical enabler across businesses —supporting growth, improving efficiency, and reducing manual workload. From automated hiring processes to marketing campaigns run in a “co-pilot” mode that combines technology with human insight, AI is enabling teams to focus more on strategy than routine tasks.

The speakers emphasised that AI is not here to replace people but to facilitate smarter decision-making and stronger value creation.

The two-day summit was organised by the Rajasthan Chapter of the Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs of India (COWE) at the Constitution Club of Rajasthan. This year’s theme is ‘Roots to Wings: Spotlighting Women Entrepreneurs from Grassroots Innovation to Global Leadership.’

Smriti Irani also referred to a joint research study conducted by the Women’s Collective Forum in collaboration with the National Law University, which highlighted that a significant portion of MSME capital remains blocked due to ongoing legal disputes. She underlined that India has more than 7 crore registered enterprises employing over 30 crore people, of which nearly 1.17 crore are women-owned enterprises. Yet, approximately Rs 8 lakh crore remains stuck due to delayed payments, adversely impacting business growth.

The objective of the summit is to empower and inspire women entrepreneurs through entrepreneurship while providing meaningful networking opportunities to strengthen their entrepreneurial journeys.

Over the two days, entrepreneurs, start-up ecosystem partners and emerging women founders engaged directly with panel speakers and industry leaders to exchange insights and build networks.

Founder-Director and Chairperson of the Board for 2025-26, Shylaja Reddy, Founder-President of COWE Rajasthan, Nidhi Toshniwal, along with women entrepreneurs from across India and members of the COWE National and Chapter Committees, participated in the programme.

During the summit, an MoU was also signed between COWE and Eternal Hospital, Jaipur.

Former Chief Minister Raje also attended the ‘COWE Excellence Awards’ ceremony as the Chief Guest. She felicitated women entrepreneurs who demonstrated outstanding performance across diverse sectors.