The Confederation of Indian Industry Centre for Women Leadership on Tuesday recognised leading corporates for embedding gender parity across leadership, workforce and business strategy.At the Edge: Inclusion & Competitiveness Summit and the CII Gender Parity Business Awards, industry leaders highlighted that inclusion is increasingly being viewed as a driver of business performance rather than a standalone agenda as per a press release by the CII.
The awards honoured organisations, including Hindustan Zinc Limited, Bharti Airtel, Diageo India, Mondelez India, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Sumerpur Factory and Godrej Properties Limited, who have translated intent into measurable outcomes by strengthening leadership pipelines, improving workforce participation and integrating gender parity into market-facing strategies.
Industry leaders stress inclusion as growth driver
Addressing the event, Rumjhum Chatterjee, Chairperson, CII Centre for Women Leadership, said, “There is growing alignment between policy direction and business priorities on women’s economic participation. Companies that move early and decisively on inclusion are seeing tangible gains not just in representation, but in resilience and performance.”Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Co-Chair, CII Centre for Women Leadership, noted that “As sectors such as platform work, healthcare and clean energy expand, the focus is shifting from entry-level participation to creating pathways for advancement. This is where both policy frameworks and corporate action will need to converge more sharply,”
Focus on workforce participation and inclusive growth
Seema Arora, Deputy Director General, CII, said, “India’s growth ambitions will increasingly depend on how effectively we bring more women into the workforce and enable their advancement. Industry has a critical role to play in building inclusive talent pipelines, particularly in emerging sectors such as manufacturing, energy and new-age services.”
Summit discussions highlight challenges and solutions
Uber, Urban Company, Kotak Mahindra Bank and KPMG India were among other participants at the Summit, which discussed challenges including access to finance, safety concerns and retention, along with solutions to address these barriers.
Gender parity moves to mainstream economic strategy
CII said discussions underscored that as India aims to sustain high economic growth, gender parity is moving from the margins to the mainstream of economic strategy, driven by both policy signals and business imperatives.
Published on April 28, 2026