Top Government Schemes for Women’s Development in India

Women’s economic participation has long been recognised as the engine of inclusive development, yet historically, poor and marginalised women have faced barriers in accessing credit, skills, and decision-making power. To bridge these gaps, the Government of India has rolled out a series of targeted programmes over the decades, ranging from microcredit funds and skill-building schemes to ambitious umbrella missions. Understanding these schemes is essential to grasp how policy translates into real change in the lives of millions of women, especially those in rural and unorganised sectors.

Why women-centric schemes matter 🔗

The case for women-specific development programmes is rooted in the recognition that women face structural disadvantages, including limited access to land, finance, and formal employment. The National Commission for Women catalogues dozens of schemes across ministries, each designed to address a specific barrier to women’s empowerment. Together, these programmes attempt to build an ecosystem of credit, skills, safety, and social support, so that empowerment is not a one-time event but a continuous, life-cycle process.

Rashtriya Mahila Kosh: The microcredit pioneer 🔗

The Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), also called the National Credit Fund for Women, was set up by the Government of India in March 1993 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Its central purpose was to provide micro-credit to poor and asset-less women in the informal sector for income-generating activities, in a client-friendly, collateral-free, and hassle-free manner.

How RMK worked 🔗

Rather than lending directly to individual women, RMK functioned as a facilitating agency. It channelled funds to NGO-Micro Finance Institutions, called Intermediary Micro-financing Organisations (IMOs), which in turn on-lent the money to Self-Help Groups (SHGs) or individual women. Loans were offered for income-generation, housing, micro-enterprises, and even family needs. The terms were concessional, and the procedure was deliberately simple to make credit accessible to women who would never qualify for a commercial bank loan.

RMK’s reach and current status 🔗

Since its inception, RMK had disbursed Rs 31,513 lakh to 1,728 IMOs, benefiting over 7.41 lakh women across the country. However, with the proliferation of alternative credit channels such as Mudra Yojana, Stand-Up India, and the SHG-bank linkage programme, the government decided that RMK had lost relevance, and in 2022 announced its closure to avoid duplication of efforts. RMK’s legacy, however, lives on in the SHG-based microfinance approach that now drives several flagship women’s livelihood programmes.

STEP: Building skills and livelihoods 🔗

The Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP), launched in 1986-87, is one of the longest-running central sector schemes for women’s economic empowerment. Run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, STEP aims to increase the self-reliance and autonomy of women by enhancing their productivity and enabling them to take up income-generation activities.

Sectors covered under STEP 🔗

Traditionally, STEP focused on ten broad sectors where women’s participation was historically high but largely informal. These included agriculture, animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries, handlooms, handicrafts, khadi and village industries, sericulture, social forestry, and wasteland development. The idea was not to push women into entirely new occupations, but to upgrade their existing traditional skills with modern training, technology, and market linkages.

Who benefits and how 🔗

STEP is intended for women aged 16 years and above, with a strong focus on marginalised groups including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and women with disabilities. The programme is implemented through public sector organisations, cooperatives, federations, and registered voluntary organisations. After revisions, the scope was broadened so that training could be imparted in any sector identified by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, with all courses required to conform to the National Skill Qualification Framework. Soft skills, computer literacy, and workplace communication are integrated into the course modules, making the training holistic.

Swayamsidha: Empowerment through Self-Help Groups 🔗

The Swayamsidha scheme, whose name literally means “self-sufficient woman,” was launched in February 2001 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development as an Integrated Women Empowerment Programme. It succeeded the earlier Indira Mahila Yojana and was rolled out across 650 blocks in 35 states and Union Territories with a total budget of Rs 116.30 crore.

The SHG model at the heart of the scheme 🔗

Swayamsidha was built around the formation and strengthening of Self-Help Groups, small collectives of women from similar socio-economic backgrounds who pool their savings and lend to each other. The scheme aimed for the holistic development of women by combining economic and social interventions under one roof. Its objectives included establishing self-reliant women’s SHGs, building confidence and awareness on issues like health, nutrition, education, legal rights, and strengthening the savings habit among rural women.

Convergence as a guiding principle 🔗

One of the most innovative features of Swayamsidha was its emphasis on convergence. Instead of forcing women to navigate multiple government departments separately, the scheme tried to deliver literacy, health, rural development, and credit services through a single window, the SHG. This integrated approach later inspired the SHG model adopted under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), which now operates on a much larger scale.

Limitations of Swayamsidha 🔗

Despite its ambition, Swayamsidha faced implementation challenges. Critics noted that the scheme was thinly spread, often covering only one or two blocks per district, which weakened monitoring. Funds routed through state finance departments to project implementing agencies were often delayed, and the cost per SHG was kept low, sometimes at the cost of training quality. These lessons informed the design of subsequent, more robust initiatives.

Recent initiatives: From welfare to women-led development 🔗

In the last few years, the policy approach has shifted from welfare-based delivery to what the government calls “women-led development.” Several umbrella schemes now bring together earlier programmes under a unified framework.

Mission Shakti 🔗

Launched as an umbrella scheme for implementation during the 15th Finance Commission period (2021-22 to 2025-26), Mission Shakti is an integrated programme for the safety, security, and empowerment of women. It has a total financial outlay of Rs 20,989 crore. The mission addresses issues affecting women on a life-cycle continuum and is built on two sub-schemes:

Sambal, the safety and security vertical, includes One Stop Centres (popularly called Sakhi Centres), the Women Helpline (181), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, and the newly added Nari Adalats, which are women’s collectives that promote alternative dispute resolution and gender justice within communities. Samarthya, the empowerment vertical, brings together earlier schemes such as Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh, Working Women Hostel, the National Creche Scheme, and the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, along with a new component of Gap Funding for Economic Empowerment.

Lakhpati Didi 🔗

Announced by the Prime Minister in August 2023, the Lakhpati Didi initiative is implemented under DAY-NRLM by the Ministry of Rural Development. A Lakhpati Didi is defined as a woman SHG member whose household earns a sustainable annual income of at least Rs 1 lakh, maintained over four agricultural seasons or business cycles, with an average monthly income exceeding Rs 10,000.

The scheme provides multi-layered support including revolving funds, community investment funds, collateral-free bank loans of up to Rs 20 lakh for SHGs, interest subvention, and structured skill training delivered through Community Resource Persons. The original target of 2 crore Lakhpati Didis was later expanded, and according to the latest figures, the government has achieved the 3 crore milestone a year ahead of the March 2027 target and has now set a new goal of 6 crore by March 2029.

SHE-Mart and Lakhpati Didi 2.0 🔗

The Union Budget 2026-27 announced the next phase, called Lakhpati Didi 2.0, along with the launch of SHE-Marts (Self-Help Entrepreneur Marts). These are community-owned retail outlets managed by women through their SHGs and cluster-level federations, designed to help women move from credit-linked livelihood activities to actual enterprise ownership. The expanded programme includes interest-free loans of up to Rs 5 lakh and an Enterprise Acceleration Fund of up to Rs 2 crore for collectives, reflecting a clear shift towards structured business ownership rather than subsistence activity.

How these schemes connect: A continuum of empowerment 🔗

Looking at the journey from RMK in 1993 to Lakhpati Didi 2.0 in 2026, a clear pattern emerges. Early schemes like RMK and STEP focused on individual barriers, credit and skills. Swayamsidha introduced the SHG and convergence model. Mission Shakti consolidated dozens of schemes into a coherent umbrella, recognising that safety and economic empowerment are inseparable. Lakhpati Didi and SHE-Marts now push beyond livelihood support to enterprise ownership.

The data tells a story of scale: over 10.05 crore women have been mobilised into 90.90 lakh Self-Help Groups under DAY-NRLM, and One Stop Centres have assisted over 10.61 lakh women. These numbers also raise important questions about quality, sustainability, and whether scheme design genuinely shifts power and agency, or simply expands beneficiary lists.

What do you think? Do top-down government schemes such as STEP and Swayamsidha truly transform women’s agency, or do they work best when paired with community-led SHGs and local leadership? And as policies move from welfare to enterprise ownership through initiatives like Lakhpati Didi 2.0, what risks emerge for the most marginalised women who may struggle to keep pace with this shift?

References

1. https://www.ncw.gov.in/publications/women-centric-schemes-by-different-ministries-of-government-of-india-goi/
2. https://rmk.nic.in/
3. https://services.india.gov.in/service/detail/rashtriya-mahila-kosh-1
4. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1795476&reg=3&lang=2
5. https://wcd.delhi.gov.in/scert/support-training-employment-women
6. http://wbcdwdsw.gov.in/User/scheme_STEP
7. https://www.utkaltoday.com/swayamsiddha-scheme/
8. https://www.india.gov.in/swayamsiddha-scheme-ministry-women-and-child-development
9. https://www.gktoday.in/swayam-sidha-scheme/
10. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1794595
11. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1841498&reg=3&lang=2
12. https://visionias.in/current-affairs/monthly-magazine/2026-03-31/economy/lakhpati-didi
13. https://theprayasindia.com/lakhpati-didi-she-mart/
14. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=154585&ModuleId=3