The central government's flagship scheme for empowering women, the Lakhpati Didi Yojana, received a major boost in the Union Budget 2026 presented on Sunday. The budget proposed the expansion of community-owned She-Marts to support women entrepreneurs. In her record ninth budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the upgraded scheme would create new income opportunities for rural women and further strengthen Self-Help Groups (SHGs), which are the cornerstone of this mission.
She said, "Building on the success of the Lakhpati Didi program, I propose to empower women not just with credit-linked employment but also by enabling them to become owners of their own businesses. Self-Help Entrepreneur (SHE) Marts will be developed as community-owned retail stores within cluster-level federations, established with improved and innovative financial mechanisms."
What is the Lakhpati Didi Yojana?
Implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, the Lakhpati Didi Yojana aims to empower women from Self-Help Groups to start small businesses and earn a sustainable income of at least ₹1 lakh per year, enabling them to become financially independent. The program provides training to women in a wide range of skills, from tailoring and plumbing to LED bulb manufacturing and drone operation, and promotes livelihoods that can increase household income.
In 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address from the Red Fort, stated his vision of creating 2 crore Lakhpati Didis across the country, leveraging the strength of 10 crore women associated with SHGs. The scheme has expanded significantly in recent years, and the government's targets have exceeded initial expectations, demonstrating its crucial role in promoting women's entrepreneurship at the grassroots level.
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