Charting a new growth path: Budget pushes gender budgeting to 8.9% in FY26
A new scheme will support 500,000 women, SC, and ST first-time entrepreneurs with term loans of up to Rs 2 crore during the next five years
 "Charting a new growth path: Budget pushes gender budgeting to 8.9% in FY26")
Challenges
More than 50 per cent of districts have not achieved the sustainable development goal by 2021 and will fail to do so by 2030 on 19 of the 33 sustainable development goals.
Despite increased Budget allocation for scheduled castes and women, the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) highlights that funds meant for marginalised communities are often diverted to general schemes.
Takeaways
A new scheme will support 500,000 women, SC, and ST first-time entrepreneurs with term loans of up to Rs 2 crore during the next five years. It builds on the success of Stand-Up India and includes online training for entrepreneurship and management skills.
Gender budgeting is projected to reach a record 8.9 per cent of total expenditure in FY26.