Budget for ECD in 2025-26: Further Investments Are Crucial
This article is authored by Protiva Kundu and Anubha Rajesh, members, Alliance for Right to ECD.
India’s growing young population offers a crucial opportunity to invest in the future, with early childhood development (ECD) playing a pivotal role in shaping the nation’s long-term prosperity. Global evidence from a wide array of disciplines, such as economics, neuroscience, and child development strongly support the argument for investing in ECD to produce high returns. Research from these fields has demonstrated that early interventions have profound and lasting effects on individuals, communities, and economies. Hence, strategic investment in ECD, lays strong foundations for future growth and development, helping India meet its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Prioritising ECD ensures that the future generation is not only well-equipped with academic knowledge but also possesses the emotional intelligence, creativity, and adaptability required to thrive in a rapidly changing world. With the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 setting a clear direction for early childhood development, the government and stakeholders must view ECD as a holistic concept, encompassing education, health, nutrition, and protection. Increasing budget allocations for integrated ECD, including research, is essential to ensure that these investments are effective and equitable.
While the government is the largest provider of ECD services, measuring government spending on ECD is a complex task due to the way expenditures are distributed across multiple sectors and ministries. An analysis by National FORCES found that in the Union Budget 2025-26, the government has allocated approximately Rs. 33,154 crores for ECD, which is 1% higher than the 2024-25 budget estimates. When converted into per-child terms, this allocation translates to Rs. 2,031 per child per year, based on the 2011 Census population for young children. While this is a step in the right direction, however, the total ECD budget in terms of
the total budget and the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shows a declining share from the previous year’s budget estimates. A budgetary allocation of 0.09% of GDP for ECD is particularly low in comparison to the OECD countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan where the average spending on ECD is 0.7% of GDP. This calls for increased investment in the sector.
The ECD budget in 2025-26 is primarily focused on nutritional health, with 66% of the total allocation directed toward schemes promoting the nutritional health of children and pregnant and lactating mothers. This is followed by health and responsive caregiving for young children which is largely catered through RCH flexi-pool under the National Health Mission (NHM). Around 8% of the ECD budget would be channelled to schemes supporting the well-being of caregivers. Only 3.1% of the ECD budget is allocated for preschool education, despite the NEP 2020's emphasis on universalising early childhood education by 2030. This calls for greater prioritisation and increased investment in early childhood education and holistic ECD interventions beyond nutrition.
The Government of India implements several ECD-specific and ECD-sensitive schemes; however, the overall resource distribution suggests that funding is thinly spread across multiple schemes, potentially impacting the depth of investment in specific areas.
The current funding levels highlight the need for a greater focus on human resources, training, and basic infrastructure. For instance, Saksham Anganwadi and Mission Poshan 2.0, a key flagship programme for ECD, operates with a child-anganwadi worker ratio of 66:1 and a child Anganwadi helper ratio of 76:1. Under Mission Vatsalya, there is one District Child Protection Officer for every 69 children. Additionally, the Health Dynamics of India 2022-23 report reveals a shortfall of 80.5% pediatricians and 74.2% obstetricians and gynaecologists in rural Community Health Centres. These gaps present opportunities for targeted investments to improve service delivery and outcomes.
The importance of convergence among sectors, departments, and schemes becomes clear, as it can ensure optimal resource utilisation and effective implementation of interventions for young children. However, departments often work in silos, leading to fragmented service delivery. The State of the World’s Children 2024 by UNICEF predicts that by 2050, India will have the highest number of children globally (an average of 350 million). Hence, ECD is an essential area of investment if India wants to reap the benefits of its demographic dividend.
Quality ECD, especially for disadvantaged families, is critical as they are largely dependent on public provisioning of services. It is also important to remember that ECD is not only about children but also about their mothers, caregivers, and adolescent girls, who are prospective mothers. A supportive environment for caregivers' well-being through access to basic services, crèche facilities, maternity benefits, health, education, and nutritional support is inevitable for achieving sustainable ECD outcomes.
To achieve sustainable outcomes, social sector spending needs to be prioritised. However, better planning and budgeting require adequate disaggregated-level physical and financial information of the existing ECD structure. Age-specific budgets, along with robust monitoring systems and technology, would facilitate better tracking of spending on early childhood stimulation, education, health care, and other key interventions that vary by developmental stages. This is possible only with a thorough modification of the Child Budget Statement. By doing this, India could address the unique challenges each age group faces and create a more comprehensive and sustainable approach to investing in its future.
Budget 2025-26 has taken some steps toward addressing ECD needs, but there is still room for improvement to meet the growing demands of India's young population. Strategic investments in ECD, with a focus on education, health, nutrition and caregiver support, are essential to ensure that India's future citizens are well-prepared to face the challenges of the 21st century.
This article is authored by Protiva Kundu and Anubha Rajesh, members, Alliance for Right to ECD.
