Indexing financial empowerment for women in India

This study attempts to present a comprehensive state and regional analysis of women's financial empowerment by constructing a financial empowerment index based on secondary data from the NFHS-5 (National Family Health Survey) dataset. To illustrate interstates and regional disparities, the financial empowerment index has been constructed based on five dimensions such as engagement in employment, access to financial institutions, ownership of assets, access to mobile phones, and their involvement in decision-making, revealing a moderate level of financial empowerment among women in India, with notable variation in the status of financial empowerment across different states and regions. Southern region exhibits outstanding performance, with states and UTs such as Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Telangana leading the charge to drive the region towards prosperity, while others lag within the criteria. The study recommends strengthening the existing program and introducing new measures for improving financial empowerment in women across all the states and regions.