Dr Priti Adani Calls for Women to Anchor India’s Growth Story at ‘Sashakt Nari, Viksit Bharat’ Conference

Dr Priti Adani, chair of the Adani Foundation, emphasises women as central architects of India’s development towards Viksit Bharat 2047. Highlighting SuPoshan, Swabhimaan, and grassroots initiatives in farming, dairy, and enterprise, she calls for sustained economic participation and broader access to skills, finance, and leadership opportunities for women.

Emphasizing the transformative role of women in India’s development journey, Dr Priti Adani, Chairperson of the Adani Foundation, called for women to be recognized as central architects of the nation’s growth towards Viksit Bharat 2047. She was addressing the "Sashakt Nari, Viksit Bharat" conference organized by the Chintan Research Foundation (CRF), a New Delhi-based public policy think tank.

Welcoming Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smt. Annapurna Devi, Dr Adani acknowledged the growing policy momentum supporting women-led development. However, she stressed the need to move beyond intent and ensure sustained economic participation for women across sectors.

Drawing from the Foundation’s grassroots initiatives, she highlighted how access remains the cornerstone of empowerment. In rural communities with limited formal education, women farmers supported by the Foundation have been introduced to user-friendly agricultural mobile applications that guide irrigation practices, fertilizer use, seed selection and mandi price tracking. Access to timely information has translated into improved productivity, stronger incomes and enhanced confidence among women farmers.

In the dairy sector, collective action through self-help groups has significantly enhanced earning potential. More than 3,500 women are now managing milk collection centres that collectively handle over 75 lakh litres of milk annually. Transparent pricing systems, quality testing and organized procurement processes have contributed to greater income stability and bargaining power.

Dr Adani also spoke about the Foundation’s flagship maternal and women’s health initiative, SuPoshan, through which trained local women volunteers have helped improve health outcomes for over 3.25 lakh women in the reproductive age group. Additionally, the Swabhimaan programme has enabled more than 4,500 women across 300 enterprise self-help groups to build sustainable livelihoods.

She underscored that empowerment is not about charity but about expanding access to skills, finance, markets, and leadership opportunities. Referring to the recent Union Budget’s Self-Help Entrepreneurs initiative, she described it as an important step in helping women transition from micro-credit participants to enterprise owners with access to growth capital, aligning with the Foundation’s broader vision of supporting exponential empowerment.

Throughout her address, Dr Adani reiterated that women’s economic participation is foundational to India’s long-term prosperity. She urged institutions to dismantle structural barriers and widen access to opportunities, noting that India’s next phase of development will be shaped in classrooms, training centres, village enterprises and digital marketplaces led by confident women. Concluding her speech, she left the audience with a powerful message: "Let her. And she will." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRHz0DzX59Y