There are two main reasons for this low labour force participation rate.
(i) Larger Proportion of Children in Total Population. In India, over the years, the proportion of children in total population has gone up. When birth rate is high, it means more children are added to the population each year than those who move on to the above 15 years age group, thus raising the proportion of children in total population.
(ii) Low Proportion of Economically Active Females to Total Female Population. In India, the labour force participation rate among females is only about 31 per cent. This means that around 69 per cent of female population is not economically active.