If you educate a woman you educate a generation: Chanda Kochhar

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], Nov 29 (ANI): ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar on Wednesday highlighted that there is no other country in the world other than India where 40 percent of the banking sector is headed by women.

"Not even 25 percent of graduate women in India participate in the workforce. We can add, in the next eight to ten years, 700 billion dollars to our own GDP if we actually bridge this gender gap," said Chanda Kochar while speaking at the 8th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES).

Sharing her thoughts over how has India come a long way, the ICICI Bank chief said India is doing way better than most other countries in the world.

"India is witnessing a demographic shift in the workforce. The changing structure of the economy is encouraging more women to start their careers resulting in more women in the fields of sports, governance and banking," added Kochhar.

Chanda highlighted various skill training opportunities and programs developed by ICICI Bank to ensure a livelihood for women across villages in India and increase employment.

"We have started a whole skill training initiative across India and through that what we have done is we train those underprivileged youth who are not able to afford higher education. We fix skills which are relevant for this kind of youth. We have 24 training centers in urban and semi-urban areas in the country plus around 500 villages where we have taken this skill training initiative," added Kochchar.

"If you educate a man you educate an individual; if you educate a woman you educate a generation," she concluded.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for women empowerment stressing it is vital for overall development of the nation.

"Indian women continue to lead in different walks of life. Our space programmes, including the Mars Orbiter Mission, have had immense contribution from women scientists. Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, both of Indian origin, have been part of US space missions," the prime minister had said.

Prime Minister Modi also outlined the focus areas of the summit including healthcare, digital economy, media and energy saying all are most relevant and important to mankind today.

He further stressed that the summit not only connects Silicon Valley to Hyderabad but also strengthens the ties between US and India.

On a related note, the summit is being hosted for the first time in South East Asia by the Governments of India and the United States.

With the theme of "Women First, Prosperity for All," the three-day summit will witness majority of women participants, with over ten countries being led by all-female delegation. (ANI)