Ivanka hails Modi's journey from tea seller to PM

Urging the Indian government to bring in more women into its workforce for boosting the economy, Ivanka, daughter and advisor to US President Donald Trump, paid rich tributes to the entrepreneurial skills of Indian women.

"If India closes the labour-force gender gap by half, your economy could grow by over $150 billion in the next 3 years," Ivanka said at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) here on Tuesday.

Referring to Modi's political journey, Ivanka said, "From selling tea to becoming PM, you have proved transformational change is possible. And now, you are bringing that promise to hundreds of millions of people across your country."

On India's achievements in various fields, she said, "The people of India have lifted more than 130 million citizens out of poverty through their own enterprise, entrepreneurship and hard work."

Ivanka said that India hosting GES is a symbol of friendship between people of both the countries. "As President Trump earlier this year said, India has a true friend in the White House," Ivanka said to a round of applause.

"Fueling the growth of a women-led business isn't simply good for society, its good for our economy. A study showed that closing gender entrepreneurship gap worldwide could grow our global GDP by as much as 2%," she said.

Calling upon women entrepreneurs around the world to innovate to succeed, she introduced Dara Dotz of San Francisco who founded 3-D printing for life-saving supplies, Rajalakshmi Bortakur of Bengaluru who invented Smart Glove that predicts diseases with the help of Artificial Intelligence and 15-year-old Reyhan Kamalova of Azerbaijan who founded a company for harvesting rainwater.

Ivanka later participated in a panel discussion on "Be the change: Women's entrepreneurial leadership," moderated by John Chambers, chairman emeritus Cisco.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MD of SRS Aviation Sibongile Sambo and chairman of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken Marcus Wallenberg were the other panellists.