Business leaders call for stronger ecosystems that empower women at Thaaragai 2026 summit

Women leaders and entrepreneurs from various sectors came together at the Thaaragai 2026 summit hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Indian Women’s Network (IWN) Tamil Nadu.

“Platforms like Thaaragai play a vital role in bringing together leaders from industry, government and academia to share ideas and create solutions that help more women succeed. When women are empowered with the right opportunities and mentorship, they become powerful catalysts for progress,” said Amudhavalli Ranganathan, vice-chairman of IWN Tamil Nadu, director of CavinKare and managing director of CK Group of Educational Institutions.

Aravindan Selvaraj, co-founder and managing director of Kauvery Hospitals, shared some statistics on women in healthcare, citing figures from the hospital chain. “We have 12 hospitals with 2,500 beds and employ 13,000 people. 70 percent of them are women.”

He also said: “Once we held a middle management meeting, I noticed we had more people. [than women]. I thought that wasn’t right, and we’ve proactively recruited women ever since. Today, 70% of our middle management consists of women. When you look at our senior management, 50 percent are women. “We have a 20%-30% female ratio at the CXO (Chief Experience Officer) level.”

“Tamil Nadu remains one of India’s leading states for women’s workforce participation and entrepreneurship, making it even more important that we strengthen the ecosystems that enable women to thrive through access to opportunities, leadership pathways and supportive policies that enable them to fully participate in the workforce and society,” said Savitha Kesav Jagadeesan, Chairman, IWN Tamil Nadu and Senior Resident Partner, Kochhar & Co.

CII Tamil Nadu President and Saint Gobain India Managing Director AR Unnikrishnan said the country cannot be developed by 2047 and Tamil Nadu cannot become a $1 trillion economy without the participation of women.”

A white paper on Women, Health and Safety was also published at the event.