New Delhi: sustained investment on women's health and education may spur economic growth in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC nations), especially in a country like India that has the maximum potential, investment banking giant Goldman Sachs says.

According to a book released by Goldman Sachs, there is a significant upside potential to its growth projections for BRIC nations, if innovative and sustained investments towards women's health and education are made there.

The term 'BRIC' refers to the world's four fastest growing emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India and China and had been first coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs.

The book titled 'BRICs and Beyond' is a compilation of Goldman Sachs' recent research reports on the four nations and the changing nature of the global economy.

In a chapter related to women of the region, 'Women Hold up half the sky', the investment bank has said India has the worst relative performance on nearly every measure the book evaluated.

'Indian women have the lowest labour-force participation rate, the lowest share of parliamentarians, the lowest life expectancy, the lowest literacy rate, the lowest level of enrolment in tertiary education, and the highest maternal mortality rate', the research found.

Source: PUSH Journal, 6 May 2008