Ladli Behna Scheme Money Likely To Be Raised To Rs 3,000 Per Month, Says SBI Report

The Madhya Pradesh government had on 28 January 2023, announced the implementation of "Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana", for the economic independence of women in the state. Under this scheme, an amount of Rs 1,250 per month (earlier: Rs 1000) is to be paid to each eligible woman in her Aadhaar linked DBT enabled bank account. This translates to an annual sum of ₹15,000 deposited into the bank accounts of eligible women aged 21-60 years old. This amount will be progressively hiked to Rs 3000 per month, said a Special Research Report by the Economic Department of the State Bank of India (SBI).

SBI report said that at least 1% of the beneficiaries spends the money in other states, implying the scheme is now transcending across boundaries. Ladli Ambassadors are now settled in States of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and are thus a partner in the growth story of these states, it added.

In the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state, SBI report has said that around 70% (~3.67 Lakhs) of additional female voters (~5.25 lakhs) in 2023 MP elections voted are primarily attributable to Ladli Behna scheme…28% success rate in 2018 of the incumbent party in closely contested seats turned into 100% in 2023.

The SBI report, further analysed How the Ladli Behnas are spending. It found that at POS terminal, the Treatment Sample / Ladli Behnas with a PMJDY account are spending around Rs 3,352. Through ATM, suchTreatment Sample have withdrawn around Rs 8,809. Through UPI, such Treatment Sample have spent around Rs 41,915.

Ladli Behna has resulted in significant district wise success rates in election across Madhya Pradesh: Nearly 3 out of 4 marginalised women have voted for the incumbent party, found the report. Panna, Vidisha, and Damoh, the 3 districts with highest women empowerment of marginalised women through Ladli Behna Scheme have resulted into winning of all the constituencies in the districts, the report added.

The report further found that beyond Ladli Behna, Madhya Pradesh economy has performed well in the last decade. Decadal growth of credit (FY23-FY13) in MP is higher than all India growth in agri, industry as well as retail segments with agriculture credit in MP having a higher share of 5.4% in overall India’s agriculture credit in FY23.