Government talks big on gender budget, delivers little

Gujarat allocates more than 37% of its Budget to women, whereas Maharashtra allocates a mere 3%

The Union and State governments regularly talk about their commitment to women’s empowerment. One of the four pillars of a Viksit Bharat 2047 is mahila or woman. The Finance Minister mentioned women several times in her 74-minute speech during the Union Budget.

One of the most powerful tools to show commitment to the cause of women’s empowerment is through fiscal backing. This year, the gender budget has increased to 8.9% of the overall Budget.

Chart 1 shows the gender budget over the years as a share of the overall Budget (in percentage). 

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It is important to note here that there is no separate gender budget in the overall Budget; this term simply refers to all the allocations to gender-related schemes under various ministries and departments.

Chart 2 shows the distribution of the gender budget over the years

Where does the money go? Gender budgets have three components: Part A comprises schemes with 100% provision for women and girls; Part B comprises schemes with 30-99% allocations for women and girls; and Part C reflects schemes with allocations for women and girls below 30% of the provision. Part C was introduced only in the 2024-25 Budget. Over time, as seen in Chart 2, the proportion of Part A has decreased and the proportion of Part B has increased.