Women leaders and entrepreneurs from various industries gathered at Thaaragai 2026, a summit organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Indian Women 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 given the right opportunities and mentorship, they become powerful catalysts for progress,” said Amudhavalli Ranganathan, Vice President, IWN Tamil Nadu Group, Chief Education Officer and Director, CavinKareal CK.
Aravindan Selvaraj, co-founder and managing director of Kauvery Hospitals, shared some statistics about women in the healthcare sector, citing figures from his hospital chain. “We have 12 hospitals with 2,500 beds and employ 13,000 people. 70% of them are women.”
He went on to say: “Once when we called a middle management meeting, I realized we had more men (than women). I thought that was not right and since then we have been proactively hiring women. Today, 70% of our middle management are women. If you look at our senior management, 50% are women. At the CXO (Chief Experience Officer) level – 30% 20% women.”
Savitha Kesav Jagadeesan, Chairman, IWN Tamil Nadu & Senior Resident Partner, Kochhar & Co., said, “Tamil Nadu continues to be one of the leading states in India in terms of women’s participation in the workforce and entrepreneurship, making it even more important that we strengthen the ecosystems that allow women to thrive – through access to opportunities and their full support – leadership and power policies.”
AR Unnikrishnan, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu and Managing Director, Saint Gobain India, said that the nation 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 released at the event.
Published – March 8, 2026 03:59 IST
