More women's participation will help increase GDP: Chanda Kochhar

Greater participation of women in the economy will help raise India's gross domestic product (GDP), Chanda Kochhar, chief executive officer and managing director of ICICI Bank said here Thursday.

"More women participation in economic growth will help increase the GDP of the country," Kochhar said during an interactive session on 'The Woman on Top' organised by the Young Ficci Ladies Organisation (YFLO).

Kochhar talked about the importance of women to "carry yourself with confidence and deal with knowledge" in big board meetings, where women are always minority.

"Put in hard work and time management is important" to be successful, she said.

"In work place there should be diversity (men-women) of work force so that decision makings are more meaningful and comprehensive. It is important that work place is gender neutral. No special treatment is needed for women, equal treatment is enough. But safety and security of women employees should be taken care of," she added.

Underlining Kochhar's successful career in banking industry, Avarna Jain, chairperson, YFLO mentioned that Kochhar led ICICI Bank into a very strong retail foray.

Saying that women have all the capabilities to make it to the top, she added: "Women are by nature much more flexible and adaptable and have the ability to multi-tasking. All that we need to do is to keep prioritising things, minute by minute,"

She was talking about work-life balance for professional women.

Kochhar said traits of multi-tasking and emotional quotient gives women better leadership qualities.