Toronto, July 16 (IANS) India's technology hub Bengaluru and capital New Delhi rank 40th and 49th respectively on a list of 50 women entrepreneur-friendly global cities, a report by American computer maker Dell Technologies said on Monday.
"Despite ranking 49th overall, Delhi can leverage its market size (where it stands 3rd among global cities) and low cost of technology to improve its talent base," said the Women Entrepreneur (WE) Cities Index released by Dell here.
Delhi and Bengaluru are the only two Indian cities to figure in the Index, which measures the ease with which women can run businesses in different countries.
The report, based on research by Dell and London-based financial services company IHS Markit, was released during the Dell Women Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) summit being held in this Canadian financial capital.
New York topped the Index, followed by San Francisco, London, and Stockholm, while US cities Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Seattle figured in the top 10.
Singapore is the only Asian city-state to feature in the report's top 10 cities feasible for women entrepreneurs to do business.
Other Asian cities in the list of 50 global metropolises that have conducive environments for women to run their businesses include Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai, Tokyo and Jakarta.
"Women's entrepreneurship rates rose globally by 13 per cent in 2017, reflecting broader momentum of increased female representation across the public and private sectors in the world," said Dell's ExecutiveAVice-President and Chief Customer Officer Karen Quintos at the summit.
Access to capital and technology, as well as the cultural and political barrier, however, continue to limit the success of women-owned businesses globally, she added.
The report also offers the WE City Blueprints which looks at the areas of strengths and improvements for a select 10 cities including Austin, Boston, Mexico City, Toronto, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Singapore, providing the cities' politicians and lawmakers with required data to foster women entrepreneurship.
The rankings in the report are based on 72 different indicators, with 45 having a gender-based component.
Though women entrepreneurs worldwide are estimated to be 274 million, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for 2016-17, women-led businesses are known to receive fewer investments compared to those run by men, indicating stark gender bias.
A study by a America's Columbia University researcher Dana Kanze revealed that a mere 2 per cent of venture capitalist funding goes to women entrepreneurs in the US, despite they owning 38 per cent of the businesses in the richest country.
The investments received by women-led firms are found to be much lesser in other countries world over.
(Bhavana Akella is in Toronto at the invitation of DWEN. She can be contacted at bhavana.a@ians.in)
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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