A background note can be accessed here: EAC-PM Study Finds Women’s Cash Transfers Strengthen Savings, Spending and Financial Resilience
The EAC-PM working paper finds that unconditional cash transfers to women improve savings, spending patterns, and household financial resilience. To what extent should these schemes be viewed as instruments of women's economic empowerment rather than simply as income-support programmes?
Women-focused cash transfers have demonstrated measurable improvements in household spending, savings, and financial resilience. Their longer-term value, however, depends on whether they expand women's economic agency alongside household welfare. Structural realities remain central to that transition.
National Time Use Survey data show that Indian women spend 289 minutes each day on unpaid domestic work and 137 minutes on caregiving. In contrast, men spend only 88 and 75 minutes, respectively. This heavy burden of unpaid work significantly constrains women's ability to engage economically. Genuine economic empowerment occurs when women gain greater control over financial resources, stronger decision-making power, and increased economic participation. Unconditional cash transfers offer a basic financial safety net, but they only become a source of lasting economic power if they change the dynamics within households. This change allows women to turn financial resources into actual control over spending and decision-making about their livelihoods.
The study recommends evolving women-centric cash transfer schemes towards a "cash-plus" architecture by strengthening beneficiary targeting and linking transfers with complementary interventions. How should India determine the next generation of women-focused transfer programmes?
India’s welfare system needs to shift toward a "cash-plus" approach. The straightforward and low-overhead nature of unconditional direct benefit transfers (DBT) provides quick relief for those in need, but cash alone cannot close the gaps in capacity and human development.
The next generation of women-focused transfer programmes should combine financial assistance with investments that strengthen capabilities and expand access to opportunities. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) shows that 89.0 percent of women now have a bank account, but only 63.6 percent own a mobile phone they can use independently, and only 64.3 percent have ever accessed the internet. Additionally, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS 2025) highlights a serious lack of skill development, with only 3.8 percent of women aged 15 to 59 having received formal vocational or technical training. On the health side, child stunting still affects 29.3 percent of children under five.
Combining cash transfers with focused digital literacy initiatives, access to self-help groups, formal skill training, and nutrition interventions with measurable outcomes will create a clear path towards improvement. Strengthening beneficiary targeting alongside these complementary interventions can improve programme effectiveness while ensuring support reaches those who need it most. This would help transform income support into sustainable improvements in women's productivity, employability, and economic participation.
Women-focused cash transfer schemes have expanded rapidly across Indian states, representing one of the fastest-growing categories of welfare expenditure. How should governments evaluate the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of these programmes?
The increase in financial support for women-focused programmes across Indian states needs a shift from focusing on transactions to concentrating on outcomes. Evaluating these interventions only by how much money is spent can lead to misusing limited public funds and disrupt overall financial stability.
Data from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES 2023-24) shows that the average Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) in rural India is ₹4,122. This rises to ₹4,247 when social welfare benefits are included. Notably, food accounts for a significant 47.04 percent of rural households' budgets. This high level of consumption contrasts sharply with the wage gaps highlighted in the PLFS 2025, where regular salaried women earn an average of ₹18,353 per month, while female casual workers receive only ₹324 per day.
Governments must implement thorough, periodic reviews that evaluate long-term welfare trends rather than just short-term results. Assessment frameworks should track whether sustained public expenditure delivers measurable improvements in human capital, labour market participation, financial resilience, and other long-term development outcomes. This will help ensure that safety nets funtcion as effective, time-limited economic tools that maximize long-term benefits for every rupee spent.