In a world fixated on growth metrics and quarterly targets, happiness rarely makes it to the boardroom agenda—except as a well-meaning footnote under "employee engagement." But what if we’ve been underestimating its economic weight all along? What if happiness, particularly for women in the workforce, isn't just a feel-good aspiration but a fundamental economic lever?

This is the provocation Saraswathi Kasturirangan, Chief Happiness Officer at Deloitte India, brings to the table. In an in-depth conversation with People Matters, she dissects what true economic inclusion means for women, why policies need more than intent, and how India's economy is quietly bleeding potential by not treating gender equity as a growth engine.

The Invisible Cost of Unhappiness

Unhappiness at work rarely announces itself. It slips in quietly—through chronic stress, disengagement, high turnover, and a silent sense of not belonging. For women, this is often compounded by a heavier mental load: societal expectations, caregiving roles, and a persistent sense of guilt, no matter where they are—at work or at home.

“There’s a real mental tax women pay,” Kasturirangan points out. “The fear of missing out when working remotely, the guilt of being away when they’re not—it’s not anecdotal; it’s a productivity issue.”

Deloitte’s own whitepaper, The Sheconomy Advantage, makes the case with data. Closing gender gaps and empowering women could boost output by 25%. India, however, tells a different story. Only 15% of tax filers are women. Female labour force participation hovers around 25%. The opportunity cost is enormous: if this figure were to rise to 50%, India’s GDP growth could increase by 150 basis points.

“Inclusion isn’t just a happiness issue,” she says. “It’s a macroeconomic imperative.”

Additionally, in India, a woman leaving the workforce for childbirth or eldercare often finds the return door either too narrow—or completely closed. “We’ve romanticised the idea of family as a support system,” Kasturirangan notes. “But increasingly, that support needs to be structured externally.”

Deloitte’s RISE programme offers a template: coaching, leadership talks, and mentorship for women re-entering the workforce. But Kasturirangan argues for bolder, nationwide interventions. Temporary tax exemptions for women returning to work after maternity leave, or tax credits for childcare—like Singapore’s Working Mother’s Child Relief—can make re-entry financially viable and socially accepted.

“These aren’t favours,” she insists. “They’re corrections. Structured re-entry frameworks reduce ambiguity, restore confidence, and most importantly, keep potential in the pipeline.”

Hiring Isn’t Inclusion. Retention Is.

For too many organisations, gender inclusion ends at the offer letter. “Retention and advancement need to be part of the KPI,” says Kasturirangan.

At Deloitte, the Sponsorship Wave ensures women are not just mentored but actively advocated for. Leaders are expected to champion high-potential women—especially in rooms where they’re not present. Performance reviews during maternity leave periods aren’t brushed aside either; they’re extrapolated to avoid penalising time taken for caregiving.

More broadly, Kasturirangan emphasises the need for performance appraisals to be scrubbed of gender bias. “Masking gender in assessments, using analytics to identify disparities, and adjusting processes—these are not radical. They’re reasonable if you’re serious about fairness.”

India’s gender pay gap remains among the widest in the world. According to the World Inequality Report, women in India earn ₹40 for every ₹100 earned by men. Kasturirangan believes that while corporate audits like gender parity studies are critical, policy must pull its weight too.

“The government could increase the standard deduction for women, or allow deductions for childcare and caregiving expenses,” she proposes. “More take-home pay means more economic independence—and more reasons for families to support working women.”

She is clear: “This is not about subsidies. It’s about systems that acknowledge the additional tax—emotional, financial, and logistical—that women pay simply to be at work.”

Allies in Action: Men at the Table

Inclusivity doesn’t flourish in a vacuum. It demands allies—especially men in leadership. Deloitte’s Men as Allies campaign trains male colleagues not to just support women passively but to be active participants in building safer, more equitable spaces.

“Behaviour doesn’t shift without nudges,” says Kasturirangan. “We run sensitisation sessions, but we also pair those with leadership expectations—because modelling starts at the top.”

But support shouldn't stop at rhetoric. She points to India’s Section 80JJAA (which rewards companies for generating new employment) as a model. “Imagine a similar incentive for retaining and growing women leaders. Policy-backed allyship would drive systemic accountability.”

Representation without empowerment risks tokenism. “It’s not about a number on a dashboard,” Kasturirangan cautions. “It’s about whether women have influence in decision-making rooms. Can they dissent? Do they shape strategy?”

She argues for deeper outcome-oriented KPIs: “Tax benefits linked to women’s career progress—hires, promotions, upskilling—will shift mindsets. If you invest in a woman’s MBA, let there be a deduction. That’s how policy can make inclusion tangible.”

Design, too, plays a role. Flexible roles, inclusive role crafting, and feedback loops that reflect lived experience—these help prevent women from being squeezed into legacy moulds.

Why More Women Don’t File Taxes—and What That Reveals

The low percentage of women tax filers is less a compliance issue and more a reflection of structural inequality. “You can’t tax income that doesn’t exist,” Kasturirangan says. “So the question becomes: how do we create more earning women?”

Her answer is entrepreneurial ecosystems. “Supporting women-led enterprises, skilling women in digital finance, enabling market access—these are all ways to create taxable women’s incomes.”

Financial literacy campaigns, particularly targeted at tier 2 and 3 cities, would help too. “But it has to go beyond awareness. We need to simplify compliance, demystify digital tools, and reward formal economic participation.”

By 2030, Kasturirangan envisions the “happiness dividend” as more than a metaphor. “It must show up in your attrition rates, your engagement scores, your leadership pipeline—and your earnings,” she says.

For her, happiness isn’t about perks; it’s about purpose. “It’s in DE&I embedded into daily practices, in employees having access to mental health champions, in inclusive infrastructure for women with disabilities or from marginalised communities.”

A truly happy workplace, she argues, is one that doesn’t demand assimilation but celebrates difference. “Belonging isn’t passive. It’s designed.”

From Optics to Outcomes: The Role of Tax Credits

To incentivise systemic change, Kasturirangan recommends borrowing from international tax frameworks. In the U.S., the Work Opportunity Tax Credit allows employers to claim up to 25% of childcare infrastructure costs. She proposes a similar model for India.

“Imagine tax breaks for companies offering mentorship or re-induction programmes for women on a break. Or credits for flexible work policies. This would shift inclusion from symbolic to structural.”

By aligning financial incentives with inclusive practices, she argues, organisations will have more than moral reasons to act—they’ll have material ones.

As India accelerates towards becoming a $5 trillion economy, the risk is clear: in our haste to automate and optimise, we may ignore the human levers of sustainable growth. Women’s economic inclusion is one such lever—long overlooked, vastly underestimated, and urgently in need of attention.

The “happiness dividend” is not about feel-good culture quotes on office walls. It’s about whether women in India have the infrastructure, support, and autonomy to participate fully in economic life—and whether companies are ready to measure, and be held accountable for, the environments they create.

“Don’t ask if women are ready to return to work,” Kasturirangan concludes. “Ask if the workplace is ready to receive them.”

In a world chasing acceleration, perhaps happiness—rooted in inclusion, measured by dignity, and powered by systemic design—is our most underleveraged growth strategy yet.