WFH, easy loans key factors for rise in women ITR filers

Hyderabad: Easy access to loans without collaterals, better work-from-home opportunities, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives taken up by firms, are some key factors that have led to the over 39% jump in count of women filing their income-tax return (ITR) from Telangana, say industry experts.As per a recent finance department report, the assessment year 2023-24 saw 8.55 lakh women from the state file their ITR -- a sharp rise from the 6.13 lakh recorded in 2019-20. "For the last few years, the IT industry has focused a lot on gender diversity. We conducted sensitisation programmes for our member companies, and the percentage of women employees in many companies went up from 5% to 40%," said M Sesha Rao, executive director, Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association, stressing how it propelled more women into the workforce. Seconding Rao, Manan Sharma, director (HR & admin - India), Blaize New Computing Technologies India Pvt Ltd, adding how the MNCs' move to launch DEI initiatives in the last 10 years or so, has added to this pool. "The income of some of the organisations operating out of Hyderabad and elsewhere in the country is also dependent on DEI initiatives," said Sharma, though, quickly adding how the growing number of women ITR filers should not be seen as a sign of prosperity.His argument: A sizeable part of this pool might comprise 'nil' filers – women who do not fall under any I-T bracket. "The numbers are more a sign of financial inclusion and visibility due to more women opening bank accounts – either to receive subsidies or benefits under schemes which need direct bank transfer," he explained. Mudra loans for small businesses, for instance, have a high rate of women beneficiaries that have turned them into earning members of the families.Some also pointed out that a significant portion of these I-T filers might be ‘dummy' as men in the family — husbands, fathers, brothers -- might be running a business, trading or investing in their name. While industry bodies air similar observations, they add that consistent efforts are on to bring more women into the fold – including those eyeing a second innings post a career gap. "Work from home has come as a boon. It has allowed women to take up regular jobs even after a long gap," C Vinod Kumar, general secretary, Forum for IT Employees stressing how many firms prefer women for their "reliability" factor.
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