Last month, India surpassed China as the world's most populous country, prompting analysts to point out the potential benefits of its significant young demographic. However, a major obstacle to realising this potential is the insufficient representation of women in India's workforce. The BBC's Arunoday Mukharji reports.
When Lavanya Ulaganathan decided to take a break from work in 2014 to have a baby, she felt torn and dismayed. But the HR professional from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, who says she was at the "peak of her career" then, was clear that she wanted to spend time with her family. Four years and two children later, she felt ready to re-join the workforce. But finding a job was hard. She faced repeated rejections, and recruiters also asked her to take massive salary cuts, arguing that she couldn't expect anything else after taking a break.
"It was a huge setback for my career," she says.
