Invisible Economies, Visible Lives: Role of Survival Economies in Shaping Economic Empowerment of Transgender Individuals in Urban India

ABSTRACT Transgender individuals in India face entrenched economic marginalization, often being pushed into informal “survival” activities such as sex work and begging. This study examines how participation in these survival economies affects the economic empowerment of transgender persons in Delhi‐NCR. Drawing on primary survey data of 335 trans persons, the analysis employs descriptive statistics and an ordered probit model with marginal effects to assess empowerment across multiple domains, including income, employment, savings, and financial autonomy. Results show that engagement in survival economies is strongly associated with significantly lower economic empowerment, whereas higher educational attainment and income levels are linked to improved outcomes. The findings are interpreted through feminist economics, which highlights systemic gendered exclusion, and structuralist informality theory, which frames survival economies as structurally produced rather than voluntarily chosen. Together, these perspectives underscore that transgender disempowerment is rooted in systemic exclusion from formal education, labor markets, and financial systems. Policy implications include enforcing antidiscrimination protections in employment, expanding inclusive educational opportunities, and advancing financial inclusion initiatives tailored to transgender communities. While the study is limited by its cross‐sectional design, regional scope, and absence of intersectional variables such as caste and religion, it contributes robust quantitative evidence to a field dominated by qualitative research. Ultimately, the study advances scholarly understanding of transgender economic marginalization as a structural condition and calls for systemic reforms to foster substantive inclusion and economic justice.