Many global tech firms have been setting up shop in India. For many reasons, they are specifically heading to southern India. What’s so unique about these half dozen states in the world’s most populous country?
One reason is the region’s economic growth rate is faster than the rest of the South Asian nation. With about 20% of India’s population, the south contributes 30% of its gross domestic product. Its poverty rate is also far less. And the area has business-friendly regulations and infrastructure.
The best insight, however, may be that southern India has a higher percentage of women in formal employment. Nearly 70% of the entire country’s female industrial workforce is concentrated in the southern states. And it has fewer social divisions over religion, caste, and gender.
“Much of the country’s modern, fast-growing economy – the very thing for which global investors value India – resides in the more open and tolerant south,” according to Bloomberg analyst Andy Mukherjee. “Here, decades of social reforms have led to a flowering of civic consciousness among followers of the three major religions: Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.”
A “self-respect” reform movement, launched a century ago in the south, has challenged social discrimination and promoted equal rights and education. Today, both men and women in southern India have higher education and literacy rates, better equipping them for tech-driven opportunities.
More recently, the southern states have unraveled India’s notoriously bureaucratic system of regulations, dubbed the “License Raj.” Such rules have impeded business growth, fueled corruption, and constrained women’s participation. One study found that 24 states in India have prohibited women from certain types of factory operations, and 11 barred them from overnight work.
A hub for technology and electronics manufacturing, South Indian states have lifted many such restrictions. Local government and companies have instituted programs such as nighttime transport and have constructed hostels to accommodate the many women who would otherwise not be allowed to leave their family homes or villages.
While not yet widespread, signs of the southern states’ approaches are also visible around the more northern, cosmopolitan city of Mumbai. There, other Indians are finding that economic benefits help empower women’s empowerment.
Take the case of Sarika Pawar, who had never imagined working outside the home until she was widowed. As she told The New York Times last year, “When you come out of your house, you see the outside world. You see the possibilities, and I feel that we can make progress.”
