Putting Women First: Budget 2026

The finance minister of India, Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman has recently

presented the union budget of India for the year 2026-27, which would be

implemented from 1st April 2026 till 31st March 2027.

The union budget of any country basically acts like a roadmap or a

systematic plan made by the concerned authorities of the country in order to

to successfully achieve goals.

It shows how and where the country will be collecting money from the

citizens ( tax ) and spending money for the overall betterment of the

country ( infrastructure, education, healthcare, business, etc.) for the

coming year.

The budget presentation is very important for any country as it gives astructured idea of what to do next in order to fullfil the aims.

This time, the union budget focuses highly on the women leadership.

Women benefit policies and overall women's encouragement and

empowerment which is a great step taken by the authorities.

~ Why we need a women-centric budget :

In a country like india, where women are objectified very casually and

often get called out unnecessarily if she wants to work or get into a male

dominated field, its very important that the government takes a few initial

steps and actions for the will of women and their provision of equal rights

to them for being able to ace it.

Now lets look at how the budget 2026 helps in benefiting women in various

sectors:

1. Education and skill enhancement:

The budget 2026 proposes to build a girls' hostel in every single

district of India in the upcoming year which would turn out to be very

fruitful and impactful for the young girls who want to study and improve

lottery skills but have a lot of constraints like safety and security

concerns in different cities.

A lot of parents also do not encourage women in their family to go and

study in different cities due to increasing violence and cruelty against

women in india.

This step would help the women in rural areas with no or less

opportunities to move out of their homes and focus on their careers in a

safe environment.

2) Empowerment and Entrepreneurship:

The budget 2026 has also focused on enhancing overall entrepreneurial

functioning of women-oriented or owned businesses in India by

introducing a new scheme labelled as SHE-MARTS, which is basically asmart or digital marketplace where women owning small startups and

Businesses like cooking, baking, fashion, beauty, designing etc. can enrol

and sell their products directly to the customers. It mainly focuses on

handmade products and it's run by SHGs or Special Help Groups.

This allows women entrepreneurs to promote and sell their products and

services freely without any issue of middleman formalities.

3) Healthcare and Nutrition:

This year, the budget 2026 also throws light on considering women’s

health, mental wellbeing and nutritional growth which is a non-negotiable

area to focus on.

The government has decided to focus on decreasing all the extra-

ordinary import tax duties on special medicines used for serious diseases

like breast cancer, abdominal tuberculosis, PCOS, and other feminine

and general medical conditions to provide ease and relief in

medical cost coverage.

They are also focusing on improving the childcare facilities and maternity

care provision to women in an appropriate way.

4) Other indirect benefits:

• The budget 2026 includes a major focus on improved and enhanced

infrastructure in the country which will eventually generate more

employment and job opportunities for women and would encourage

them to work in whatever field their skills align with.

• Rising dependency and adoption of digitalisation allow women to work

online or from the comfort of their homes which enhances their chance

and confidence of being entrepreneurially focused which eventually

benefits the overall economy of the country.

• Other than this, they are also focusing on building a better transportation system

ecosystem to address the safety and security concerns revolving

around corporate work timings and location as well as travel. This year’s union budget also focuses a lot on providing financial literacy

as well as enhancing financial inclusion in the country by providing

seminars and awareness programs digitally and manually which can be a

• A great opportunity for women to grow and learn a lot in the financial and

banking sector and be more fintech-driven.

• The government also encourages companies to provide

women with all necessary accommodations as well as leaves like paid

period leaves and paid maternity leaves which will eventually boost their

willingness to grow.

This is how the Union budget 2026 will help in empowering and

supporting women in various fields and sectors in the upcoming year

2026.

Now let's look at what our shining stars of the country i.e. most

successful women in the country have to say about it;

1) Arundhati Bhattacharya — CEO, Salesforce India:

She is one of the most respected corporate leaders in the country and is

also the former chairperson of SBI. She appreciated the Union Budget 2026 and framed it as ambitious and intentional focusing on the long term

planning regarding many sectors of the country.

2) Kangana Ranaut — Actor and Parliamentaria

Kangana is a very powerful name when it comes to women's

empowerment as well as feminism in India. She also expressed her

thoughts about the Union Budget 2026 of India and said that it's highly

focused on supporting and encouraging women in every field. She said

the measures taken for women like hostel building, medical help,

employment opportunities etc. felt satisfying.

Our suggestions :

1.The union budget can include funds for women who want to start their

journey in business or in any other field and this can be done with

the help of technology to provide higher accessibility and

security.

2.They can ease the loan processes for women with no lengthy

documentation process replacing it with tech-driven ideas like E-

KYC and also provide them with some tax benefits.

3.Women's safety is also something the authorities can focus more on,4. by providing them with safe and secure transportation facilities,

increase the number of street lights and police security in public places.

4.They can also focus on the overall skill development of women as in

teaching them how to be tech-friendly, providing them with financial

literacy, awareness about nutrition and health as well as mental

wellness

~ A country that really focuses and invests in women will always

eventually rise higher and shine brighter.