When Tulsi Khemka of Bangalore says her salary has shot up 20 times in the last five years, she's just stating a fact - with a little trace of pride but no boast, really. The 30-year-old senior executive in a multinational retail company is on a roll, like the growing horde of women in India with more earning power and wider disposable incomes than ever before.

And it's only getting better. A June 2011 Nielsen study, 'Women of Tomorrow', says that working women's contribution to family income is expected to increase. Other surveys have found that average incomes of urban Indian women have doubled in the last decade. In some cases, the rise has been phenomenal. So when Priya Marwah, associate director with a leading headhunting firm and with a monthly income of Rs 2-4 lakh, says she has invested Rs 3 crore in a luxury apartment in Gurgaon, you know it's a fast-changing world out there with social, political, cultural and familial dynamics being constantly overhauled, sometimes slowly, but always constantly. "I work hard and live well," says Marwah, mirroring this new-found confidence. "I am positive I'll be the CEO of a company one day."

Women today not only live well, they make no apologies for it. Marwah has seen her salary jump 20-25% every year in the last 12-13 years. She's brand conscious and passionate about cars. "We have two. I am planning to buy a third," she gushes.

For Delhi-based Bonti Barooah, 39, an attractive, single, inflight supervisor in a private airline, the world is her oyster. She earns around Rs 1 lakh a month and has very few complaints. "When I joined this airline in 1997, I was getting Rs 20,000 or so. I used to spend all my flying allowance on clothes, perfumes and exotic food. It was fun, but now I have started saving too."

Advocate Sejal Chacha who lives in a Bandra suburb admits her income has gone up in the last five years. "I don't earn a fixed sum. I would once charge Rs 10,000 for filing a case, now it is Rs 20, 000-25,000." Husband Nilesh is a theatre artiste and together they make between Rs 50,000-1,00,000 a month. And despite increasing expenditure - "Rs 100 barely fetches two apples" - she maintains a well-furnished house. She has two maids and a chauffeur.

A woman's additional income is often not spent on day-to-day consumption. However, it does create a demand for products and services, says Arup Mitra, professor at Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. "Take beauty parlours. There's one in every corner and they give service as well as generate income." Also, women are increasingly moving away from PSU and bank jobs and getting into telecom, hospitality and retail where 'looking presentable' is important, says Madhukar Sabnavis, country head of planning at Ogilvy and Mather, a communications company. "This leads to more spending on personal-grooming products and fashionable clothes." No wonder Liji Narayan, senior editorial manager at a publishing house, says branded clothes are a must for her. "I need them professionally and I can afford them."

This market is naturally an advertiser's delight. From mere influencers, women are now key decision-makers. While earlier they would feature in ads for home appliances and durables along with the man, now, insurance, finance and realty ads are targeted at them, says Prasoon Joshi, noted adman. "From ads for bikes, now there are ads for scootys exclusively for women."

David Fuller's view It has long been my view that countries which empower their women and promote equal opportunity in the workforce will considerably outperform in terms of GDP.

It should be obvious that in removing glass ceilings the economy can only benefit. In this respect, Singapore is once again an outstanding example.

If India is following a similar policy, commencing with education, its economic progress will be astonishing.