Government Schemes for Women
Nine state cash-transfer and livelihood schemes for women, one per state — eligibility, amount and how to apply, cross-linked from one page.
Researched by Mirza Seraj BaigFacts last checked against official sources on 17 September 2026Most of India's women-targeted schemes are state cash-transfer programmes: a monthly or yearly payment to eligible women, run by a state government rather than the centre. Each pays a different amount, sets a different age and income cutoff, and is open only to residents of that state — there is no central scheme that covers every state at once.
The nine below, one per state, are the ones this site has researched and verified so far. Each links to its own guide with the full eligibility list, required documents, how to apply and the official portal.
The schemes
Ladki Bahin Yojana
Maharashtra pays ₹1,500 a month to eligible women aged 21 to 65 whose family income is not more than ₹2.5 lakh a year. Married, widowed, divorced, abandoned and destitute women qualify, and so does one unmarried woman per family.
Ladli Behna Yojana
Madhya Pradesh pays ₹1,500 a month to eligible married women aged 21 to 59 from families earning up to ₹2.5 lakh a year. The amount was ₹1,000 at launch in 2023 and rose to ₹1,500 from November 2025; about 1.25 crore women receive it. There is no fixed payment date: recent installments were paid between the 12th and the 19th of the month.
Mahtari Vandan Yojana
Chhattisgarh pays ₹1,000 a month to married women aged 21 and above — including widowed, divorced and deserted women — by Direct Benefit Transfer. Around 70 lakh women are covered; the first installment of ₹655 crore was released on 10 March 2024.
Subhadra Yojana
Odisha pays eligible women aged 21 to 60 ₹10,000 a year — ₹5,000 on International Women's Day and ₹5,000 on Rakhi Purnima — for five years, a total of ₹50,000. More than one crore women are expected to be covered.
Maiya Samman Yojana
Jharkhand pays ₹2,500 a month to women aged 18 to 50 from ration-card-holding families, by Direct Benefit Transfer to an Aadhaar-linked account in the woman's own name. Applications are taken at camps across the state.
Gruha Lakshmi
Karnataka pays ₹2,000 a month to the woman named as head of the family on an Antyodaya, BPL or APL ration card. Registration has no closing date, and payments have been going out by Direct Benefit Transfer since 30 August 2023.
Lakshmir Bhandar
West Bengal pays ₹1,200 a month to women from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe households and ₹1,000 a month to women of other categories, aged 25 to 60, whose household is enrolled in Swasthya Sathi. The money is credited by Direct Benefit Transfer to a single bank account in the woman's own name.
Magalir Urimai Thogai
Tamil Nadu pays ₹1,000 a month to women heads of family whose household earns under ₹2.5 lakh a year, by Direct Benefit Transfer. About 1.31 crore women receive it. Launched in 2023 as Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam, it is called Magalir Urimai Thittam in the 2026-27 Policy Note.
Mahila Rojgar Yojana
Bihar gives one woman in every family ₹10,000 to start a livelihood of her own, with up to ₹2 lakh more later if the enterprise works. The scheme was launched on 26 September 2025, when ₹10,000 was transferred to 75 lakh women at once.
Frequently asked questions
Is there one central government scheme for all women in India?
Not a monthly cash-transfer scheme of the kind listed here — each of these is run and funded by a state government, open only to residents of that state. A woman outside these nine states has to check what her own state runs; this list will grow as more state schemes are verified.
Can I apply for more than one of these schemes?
These are state schemes, and each is open only to residents of its own state, so in practice you can apply only to the one for the state you live in. A woman who meets more than one scheme's residency, age and income conditions in the same state should check that scheme's own exclusions before assuming both pay.
Which of these pays the most?
Open each scheme's own page for the current amount — they range from about ₹1,000 to ₹1,500 a month for most of these, with Subhadra Yojana paying ₹5,000 twice a year instead of monthly. Amounts change with state budgets, so the figure on the scheme's own page, not this list, is the one to trust.
Every figure above is verified and cited on the scheme's own page, linked from its card. This page only curates; it is not the source.