With women forming half its workforce, Sri City bets on inclusive employment

Sri City, one of the leading business cities in India, promises to stand by its commitment of maintaining gender-inclusive employment, with women forming nearly half of its 70,000 strong workforce.

Though factories and work floors are traditionally perceived to be male-centric, the manufacturing floors at the plants in Sri City of Tirupati district have a different tale to narrate – women play a crucial role in their operations, efficient management and innovative thinking. There are 250 companies representing 31 countries here.

The phenomenon has even drawn the attention of leaders like Rajya Sabha’s Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh during the national conference on women’s empowerment held in Tirupati in 2025, where Sri City was referred to as ‘Sthree City’ (Women’s domain).

Be it automobile, electronics, garments, food processing, formulations, healthcare and hygiene products or consumer goods, an increasing number of women has taken up crucial roles in assembly, quality control, testing, supply-chain and supervisory operations.

In fact, female participation ranges up to 97% in some plants, while there are some production lines that are entirely run by women. For example, companies like MSR Garments, Zen Linen, Everton Tea, Alstom, Daikin, Havell’s, Blue Star, Isuzu, Mondelez India, Kellogg’s, Colgate-Palmolive, Axxelent Pharma and Unicharm continue to expand women’s participation in precision-driven manufacturing.

Women, who are known to pay attention to detail, are preferred in precision tasks like soldering, wiring, brazing and robotics-assisted assembly. Lower attrition rate is another advantage working in favour of women, as it reduces recruitment costs.

Sri City’s HR Academy has trained over 4,000 locals, a chunk of them women, whose employment is believed to uplift the entire local community. Sri City’s CSR investments in local community have exceeded ₹61 crore in the form of strengthening education, healthcare and rural infrastructure.

Referring to independent assessments taken up by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, the University of Denmark and Sri Padmavati Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam (SPMVV), Sri City’s Managing Director Ravindra Sannareddy has observed that narrowing gender gaps and prioritising skill development has created an ecosystem with women at the helm.