Focus on women-led development can propel India’s GDP growth beyond 10%: Hardeep Singh Puri

Transition from women-centric to women-led development in the BJP regime at the Centre since 2014 could pave the way for over 10% annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the future, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said in Coimbatore on Saturday. Providing one-third representation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and delimitation exercises will enable 2% to 3% additional GDP growth to the existing 7% to 8%, the Minister said, referring to global precedents.

Mr. Singh was delivering the keynote address at the BJP’s Professionals Connect 2026, organised by the party’s Professional Cell, on the theme ‘Where Knowledge Meets Nation-building’ in memory of late Union Minister Arun Jaitley. He termed the achievements in household gas connections and toilets as facets of women-centric development. The number of domestic gas connections has risen from 14 crore in 2014 to 33.33 crore now, he said, adding that around 80% of beneficiaries of the PM Ujjwala Yojana were in rural areas.

The revision in the forecast on global energy demand by International Energy Agency from 20% from India over the next two decades (made in 2021) to 35% now, was an indicator of India’s fast-paced economic growth. The country was on the cusp of becoming the third largest economy.

India, the Minister said, was looking at the possibility of broad-basing use of green hydrogen from Railways to ship-building, steel, and refineries sector. The IOCL (Indian Oil Corporation Limited) has already made a beginning. Across sectors, the best was yet to come, Mr. Hardeep Singh said.

Presiding over the event, BJP national working president Nitin Nabin said there had been a phenomenal push for infrastructure growth under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime. Citing the instance of Tamil Nadu, he said grants and assistance given to the Tamil Nadu government by the BJP regime at the Centre since 2014 amounted to ₹6 lakh crore, compared to just ₹1 lakh crore during the UPA regime from 2004 to 2014. Be it health, housing, entrepreneurship, or other sectors, Tamil Nadu has benefited substantially, he claimed. When it comes to development, the BJP government was working for equitable progress across the country, Mr. Nitin said, addressing his first event in Tamil Nadu after assuming the post.

Both the DMK and Congress parties were mired in corruption. The DMK has insulted even the judiciary. The time has come to root them out and elect a regime that will take along all sections of society, including the economically weaker people, Scheduled Caste communities, women, and farmers, he added.

Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs L. Murugan said digital India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was well on course to becoming an economic superpower by 2047.

BJP national in-charge for Tamil Nadu Arvind Menon and Co-incharge Sudhakar Reddy, BJP State president Nainar Nagenthran, National president of BJP India Mahila Morcha Vanathi Srinivasan, All Cells Coordinator K.T. Raghavan, State General Secretary A.P. Muruganandam, and State Coordinator of Professional Cell S. Sundar Raman also spoke.

Senior journalists Rangaraj Pandey and Kolahala Srinivas, and Manikandan, Tamil literary speaker also addressed the large gathering of professionals from Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode.