India's expanding economy has seen unprecedented numbers of women join the workforce, but their emergence has been accompanied by growing threats to their security.

Like many working women, Poonam, a 21-year-old barista at an upmarket coffee shop in the capital, often stays late serving customers and says her parents fret nonstop about her comings and goings, calling her every night.

“I try to get an auto-rickshaw (home) because it's safer but the drivers haggle for double pay and I can't always afford it. So I end up waiting late at night for the bus, which never arrives on time,” she told AFP.

Once on board, Poonam, who declined to give her surname, says that sexual harassment is a constant risk.

“There's nothing you can do about it, if you tell your family, chances are they will just tell you to stay home,” she said.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that economic progress is impossible without the “active participation” of women, but there are signs that the Delhi gang-rape case has led some to turn their backs on the workplace.

A survey by industry group ASSOCHAM published this month showed a 40 per cent fall in the productivity of female employees at call centres and IT firms in the country because many had reduced their hours or had quit their jobs.

Insensitive comments from politicians implying women are to blame for sexual assaults and clumsy “safety tips” from police have only fuelled anger among commuters.

A Delhi Police advisory posted on its official website suggests that women should “turn off” prospective attackers by vomiting or “acting crazy”.

Just days after the December 16 gang-rape, K.P. Raghuvanshi, a senior police officer in Mumbai told female college students to carry a packet of chilli powder with them always and use it when threatened, the Press Trust of India reported.