India has moved from women’s development to women-led development: Economic Survey

India transitioning to women-led development with increased budget allocation for women's welfare, employment opportunities, and skill training schemes.

Observing that India is transitioning from women’s development to women-led development, the Chief Economic Advisor on July 22 said there has been a 218.8% increase in budgetary allocation for schemes for the welfare and empowerment of women even as it acknowledged that women in India face the “’motherhood penalty” with a drop in female labour force participation rate around childbearing years.

“The share of the Gender Budget in the total Union Budget has increased to 6.5% in Financial Year 2025, the highest since the introduction of Gender Budgeting Scheme in Financial Year 2006,” the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) said in the Economic Survey, which was tabled in Parliament.

Economic Survey 2023-24 highlights

This shows that India is shifting from women’s development to women-led development. He also underscored the government’s commitment towards ensuring employment opportunities for women in various fields.

The survey said that skilling schemes have put a dedicated emphasis on covering women, and the number of women trained under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) has increased from 42.7% in financial year 2016 to 52.3% in financial year 2024. Under the Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) scheme, women constitute about 82% of the total beneficiaries and in institutes like ITIs and National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs), the participation of women has gone up from 9.8% in FY16 to 13.3% in FY24.

With rural India propelling the trend, the survey observed that the female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) rose to 37% in 2022-2023 from 23.3% in 2017-2018. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has facilitated the opening of 52.3 crore bank accounts, of which 55.6% account holders are women, as of May 2024.

Read the full document of Economic Survey 2023-24