Budget 2023: Here are 5 things that women want from FM

Women are a critical part of India’s explosive growth story, and while we’ve seen a number of progressive schemes and policies implemented by the government over the last few years, there is still clearly a long way to go.

We are still facing the aftermath of the pandemic. Budget 2023 would be a great opportunity for the Finance Minister to focus on empowering women and providing growth opportunities to bridge the gender gap in the economy.

Here are five areas women are hoping to see in the upcoming Budget:

Safety, education and healthcare:
The Budget can focus on providing better access to education, healthcare, and safety for women. The government has several schemes and programmes aimed at empowering women, such as the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme, and the National Rural Livelihood Mission.Increased funding for these programmes could help improve the implementation and reach of these schemes.

Asset ownership and access to credit:
We hope that the Budget 2023 will focus on introducing more fiscal incentives for women that will help narrow the gender gap in the economy.

Women-specific fiscal incentives could include tax reliefs on the purchase of assets such as property, vehicles, etc. to encourage women to own more assets, which will give them more economic independence.

Women-centric preferential schemes for housing, personal, vehicle and business loans will prove to be a massive boost to the economy.

Maternity and childcare:
Schemes and programmes for pregnant women and new mothers can benefit deeply from better financial support from the government.

This includes expansion of programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. Furthermore, FM can look at better access to affordable childcare — which is one of the biggest barriers to women’s long term employment and can enable women to balance work and family responsibilities.

Pension schemes:
This is a known fact that women tend to live longer than men and often outlive their spouses. Thus, they need larger retirement corpus and a higher pension to support themselves in their old age.

The government could consider increasing the pension amount for women or providing pension schemes for women who are not covered under any other scheme.

Women entrepreneurship:
A major challenge that requires attention is access to finance for women entrepreneurs. We are hopeful for better access to loans and subsidised credit for women-owned businesses – along with tax exemptions and seed capital grants for women entrepreneurs.

These will continue to fuel the business and economic impact of women-run enterprises, encourage more women to build businesses and promote women entrepreneurship.

Conclusion
Overall, we hope Budget 2023 will focus on inclusive growth for women, providing more access to education, healthcare, safety, asset ownership, and financial stability.

Additionally, creating more avenues for women to reach their economic potential, through entrepreneurship and employment, can benefit both individual women and the entire economy.

(The author is CEO & Co-Founder, Basis – India’s Financial Services Destination for Women)

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)