Key Details
The EAC-PM Working Paper, Unconditional Women Cash Transfer Programmes in India: Evidence from Maharashtra and Odisha, uses anonymised banking transaction data and quasi-experimental methods to evaluate how unconditional cash transfers influence women’s financial behaviour and household welfare.
Area | Key Finding | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
Evidence base | Account-level banking transaction data analysed using causal evaluation methods rather than household surveys. | Provides one of the strongest evidence bases on the behavioural effects of women’s cash transfers in India. |
Financial outcomes | Beneficiaries increased both account balances and household expenditure after receiving transfers. | Suggests income support strengthens financial resilience alongside consumption. |
Household behaviour | Financial decisions changed not only for beneficiaries but also for other household members. | Indicates transfers influence wider household financial management. |
Digital financial use | Greater use of ATM and UPI transactions for education, healthcare and everyday spending. | Shows regular DBTs can accelerate participation in the formal digital financial system. |
Policy direction | Recommends evolving towards a cash-plus approach combining transfers with financial literacy, entrepreneurship and capability building. | Highlights the need to move from income support towards long-term economic empowerment. |
Summary
Banking Data Shows How Women Actually Use Cash Transfers
Unlike most evaluations that rely on household surveys, the EAC-PM working paper analyses anonymised banking transaction data to examine the impact of Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana in Maharashtra and Subhadra Yojana in Odisha. This enables the authors to observe actual changes in savings, spending and digital financial behaviour before and after beneficiaries began receiving unconditional cash transfers.
The evidence shows that directing transfers to women consistently improves household financial outcomes. In Maharashtra, beneficiaries increased month-end balances by 84% (around ₹6,884) while monthly expenditure rose by 46% (around ₹1,349). Similar gains were observed under Odisha’s Subhadra Yojana, where both savings and expenditure increased significantly following receipt of transfers.
Cash Transfers Increase Both Spending and Financial Resilience
A notable finding is that beneficiaries did not simply spend the additional income. They simultaneously increased household expenditure while building precautionary savings, indicating that cash transfers improve immediate welfare without weakening financial resilience.
The study estimates a marginal propensity to consume (MPC) of around 0.90 among Maharashtra beneficiaries, suggesting that many households remain liquidity constrained and quickly convert additional income into essential consumption while retaining a portion as savings.
The analysis also shows that programme impacts differ across beneficiary groups. Older women tended to save a larger share of transfers, while women with lower educational attainment recorded stronger increases in consumption, indicating that identical transfers can produce different financial responses depending on household circumstances.
The Benefits Extend Beyond Individual Beneficiaries
The paper finds that women’s cash transfers influence financial behaviour across the household rather than benefiting recipients alone.
In Maharashtra, relatives—primarily male household members—recorded higher savings alongside lower personal expenditure after women began receiving transfers. Similar spillover effects were observed in Odisha, where increased balances among beneficiaries were associated with reduced spending by other household members. These findings suggest that transferring income directly to women can reshape household financial management and reduce dependence on other earners.
The study also documents broader behavioural changes. Beneficiaries increasingly used ATM transactions for education-related expenditure and UPI payments for healthcare and lifestyle spending, indicating that regular Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs) can encourage greater use of formal banking channels and digital payment systems alongside improvements in household welfare.
From Income Support to Economic Empowerment
The paper argues that India’s rapidly expanding women’s cash transfer programmes should now move beyond income support alone. With more than 15 states operating similar schemes covering around 12 crore women and annual expenditure approaching ₹1.7 lakh crore, these programmes have become a central pillar of state welfare policy.
The authors therefore recommend evolving towards a cash-plus approach that combines direct income transfers with financial literacy, digital capability, entrepreneurship support, nutrition interventions and stronger linkages with livelihoods programmes. The report suggests that the next phase of policy should be judged not only by the income transferred, but by its ability to strengthen women’s financial capability, economic agency and long-term resilience.
What is a Cash-Plus Approach?
A cash-plus approach combines unconditional cash transfers with complementary interventions such as financial literacy, digital inclusion, entrepreneurship support, livelihood promotion, nutrition services or skill development. The objective is to strengthen long-term economic empowerment and human development rather than providing income support alone.
Policy Relevance
Provides robust causal evidence that directing cash transfers to women strengthens both household consumption and precautionary savings, supporting the design of gender-targeted social protection programmes.
Reinforces the value of India’s JAM architecture and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) ecosystem by showing that regular digital transfers can also deepen formal banking participation and digital payment adoption.
Suggests that future evaluations of women’s welfare schemes should measure financial behaviour, economic agency and household decision-making, rather than focusing solely on beneficiary coverage or expenditure.
Highlights opportunities to integrate women’s cash transfer programmes with Self-Help Groups (SHGs), DAY-NRLM, financial literacy initiatives and livelihood promotion, creating a stronger pathway from welfare support to sustainable income generation.
Demonstrates that programme impacts vary across beneficiary groups, indicating that complementary interventions should be tailored to different age, education and livelihood profiles.
Supports a gradual transition from income support to capability-building, positioning women’s cash transfers as part of a broader strategy for financial inclusion, economic resilience and long-term empowerment.
Follow the Full Working Paper Here: Unconditional Women Cash Transfer Programmes in India: Evidence from Maharashtra and Odisha