India’s AI Ambitions Get A Boost From Women In The Workforce : Goldman Sachs #CII

India’s services economy continues to play a pivotal role in stabilising macroeconomic indicators such as the current account deficit and the rupee, with exports contributing $390 billion last year—a 13.6% year-on-year growth. Speaking at the CII event, Gunjan Samtani, Co-Chairman of Goldman Sachs in India and Country Head of Goldman Sachs Services India, highlighted how Global Capability Centres (GCCs), particularly those focused on engineering and R&D, are emerging as high-value contributors to the Indian economy, both in revenue per employee and innovation—with patents seeing a 17-fold increase. He also underlined the significant rise in female labour force participation, now at 42% from 23% in 2017–18, driven largely by rural India. However, more progress is needed in urban centres to sustain and grow this momentum. India, now the largest producer of women STEM graduates globally, is uniquely positioned to become the third key pillar in the global AI ecosystem—alongside the US and China—thanks to its demographic dividend and rapidly growing AI infrastructure.