E-Paper
Cash transfers as an instrument for women’s empowerment in India
This paper is authored by Sunaina Kumar, ORF.
Cash transfers are popular globally as an instrument for combating poverty and achieving broader development goals. Both conditional and unconditional cash transfers that target women in low- and middle-income countries can enhance household well-being, food security, education of children, family health, and women’s empowerment. In India, the provision of unconditional cash transfers to women is being driven by the expanding influence of female voters, adoption of digital infrastructure for social welfare, and women’s economic marginalisation. Some 15 states and Union Territories (UTs) have launched such cash transfer programmes. These schemes have strengthened the case for the provision of Universal Basic Income (UBI) in the country, with states adopting the ‘UBI for women’ model, first proposed by the Economic Survey of India in 2016-17. Though cash transfers are dismissed as freebies in public discourse, emerging evidence from states shows they can have a positive impact on household spending, gendered division of labour, the empowerment of women, and savings.
Unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) to women—considered as a mechanism for social welfare—have emerged as a popular electoral strategy among state governments in India to mobilise female voters. During the 2025 Delhi assembly election, for example, female voter turnout reached 60.92%—exceeding the male turnout of 60.21% for the first time in the country’s history. Analysts have attributed the turnout to so-called competitive welfarism, with both the incumbent government and opposition parties announcing monthly cash transfers for women. Since the election, the Delhi government has launched Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, a cash transfer programme that offers ₹2,500 per month for women ages 18 to 60 with an annual household income of less than ₹3 lakh.
At present, nearly 15 states and UTs run such programmes. The number has grown over the past two years, and more states are expected to adopt similar schemes. UCTs now reach one-fifth of India’s adult female population, according to a recent estimate by the private sector bank, Axis Bank. Recent elections in states like Maharashtra and Jharkhand, where women voters have outnumbered men, show that cash transfers are driving up either female voter turnout or the vote share of incumbent or opposing parties.
This paper can be accessed here.
This paper is authored by Sunaina Kumar, ORF.
