Budget 2026: SHE Marts aim to turn SHG women into enterprise owners
Union Budget 2026 plan links SHG products, retail markets and easier finance for women-led businesses
 "Budget 2026: SHE Marts aim to turn SHG women into enterprise owners")
The government will set up a new retail and enterprise platform for women self-help groups (SHGs) and launch self-help entrepreneur (SHE) Marts to strengthen rural women entrepreneurs' market access, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday.
The proposal builds on the Lakhpati Didi programme and signals a policy shift from micro-credit-led livelihoods to structured, women-owned enterprises. For SHG households, the move could improve income visibility, access to formal finance, and long-term financial stability.
Budget 2026 push for women-led enterprises
Announcing the measure in her Budget speech, Sitharaman described the scheme as the next stage in the SHG income journey. “I propose to help women take the next step from credit-linked livelihood to owners of enterprises,” she said.
The Lakhpati Didi framework defines eligible beneficiaries as SHG members whose household income crosses Rs 100,000 a year. The programme has focused on skills, credit access, and local production. The new SHE Marts layer adds a structured retail channel on top of this base.
Government data indicates crores of women are already linked to SHG networks and digital livelihood records, with a national target to create 30 million Lakhpati Didis.
What is SHE Marts?
SHE Marts are planned as community-owned retail outlets that will be set up within cluster-level federations of SHGs, especially in agro and allied activity clusters.
“SHE (self-help entrepreneur) marks will be set up as community-owned retail outlets to help women entrepreneurs,” Sitharaman said, underlining that ownership and management will remain with local collectives.
According to the Budget announcement, these outlets are meant to:
- Provide permanent retail points for SHG-made goods
- Improve direct market access
- Support value-added and processed products
- Be backed by enhanced and innovative financing instruments
- Detailed operational guidelines and funding structures are awaited.
Credit, financing and personal finance impact
Alongside retail access, the Centre has introduced a digital end-to-end loan system for SHG women, allowing online applications and bank-linked approvals. Combined with SHE Marts, this could improve working capital cycles and borrowing capacity.
For personal finance at the household level, the model matters because it can:
- Convert irregular SHG earnings into steadier business income
- Reduce reliance on informal debt
- Improve eligibility for formal loans
- Support asset creation through enterprise profits
Other women-focused measures in the budget 2026
The Budget also included education-linked support for women. Sitharaman announced that “through VGF (viability gap funding) and capital support, one girls hostel will be established in every district,” noting that long laboratory and study hours in STEM courses create practical barriers.
“In higher education, STEM institutions, prolonged hours of study and laboratory work pose some challenges to girl students,” she said, adding that the hostels aim to improve continuation in advanced studies.
Together, the measures link enterprise, credit, and education — three levers that directly influence women’s long-term financial outcomes.
‘Focus on scalable women-led enterprises’
“The Self-Help Entrepreneur (SHE) initiative is designed to help women, especially self-help group members, move from subsistence activities to sustainable and scalable business enterprises, with stronger access to finance and market linkages,” said Priyal Shah, partner at NPV and Associates LLP.