KRISHNAGIRI’S WOMEN ARE BREAKING BARRIERS
Recent investments by India Inc. have empowered women in this underdeveloped district of Tamil Nadu
worth ₹20,840 crore have been made in the district. These investments have created a lot of jobs specifically for women,” says V. Vishnu, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Guidance, Tamil Nadu’s single-window investment promotion arm. Ola employs 2,500 women at its plant, called Futurefactory. Its assembly line is entirely staffed by women, who produce as many as 40,000 e-scooters a month. Next door, Fairway Enterprises has 6,000 women workers producing shoes for global customers. Some 70km away, Tata Electronics, which makes components for handset makers such as Apple, employs about 14,000 workers, again mostly women, state government officials say. Tata Electronics and Fairway didn’t speak to Mint for this story.
“When we were setting up the Ola Futurefactory, the representation of women in the manufacturing sector was minimal, especially in the automobile sector. We decided to break this status quo. We believe that women are not only more productive but are also more capable in terms of dexterity, flexibility, and learning agility,” says Bhavish Aggarwal, founder, Ola Electric. Also, empowering women with economic opportunities improves not just their lives but also the lives of their families and the community as a whole, he adds. 919,577
The women, it appears, have delivered. “This decision has reaped rich operational dividends for us,” says Aggarwal. Ola has seen lower absence rates and women have demonstrated 89 90
Infant mortality*** 8.2 13.4 13 13.4 12 15.7 960,232 significant multi-skilling capabilities. Aggarwal is betting on women for Ola Electric’s future expansion. “As we ramp up our production capacity for scooters and get into newer categories, we will expand our women workforce further,” says Aggarwal.
This success is drawing more investments into the district. “At the recently concluded Global Investors Meet in January, we received an investment commitment to the tune of ₹30,116 crore for Krishnagiri district. They (the pledged investments) have the potential to create 85,379 jobs,” Guidance’s Vishnu adds.
WELFARE TAILWINDS
ou are better off being a girl these days,” says C. Nageshwaran. “Job opportunities are aplenty compared to boys,” he adds. Unable to get a decent job, he runs his own taxi. But Nageshwaran is not too unhappy as his wife is a beneficiary of the change—she works at Taiwanese component maker Delta Electronics, which recently started manufacturing operations in the district.
Welfare officials in the district administration are the happiest. The jobs, salary and financial empowerment of girls has made their job easier. “Krishnagiri district is ranked poorly on most social parameters for a reason. Their mindsets are still rooted in old ways,” says Sarayu.
The foremost responsibility of K. Vijayalakshmi, the district social welfare officer, is to prevent child marriages, and that often leaves her exasperated.