Lakhpati Didi: Maharashtra tops list with 22.7 lakh women; UP, Bihar get largest DAY-NRLM allocation in FY26

Over 1.48 crore rural women have become ‘Lakhpati Didis’ under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

The Lakhpati Didi initiative aims to enable women members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to earn a minimum annual income of ₹1 lakh on a sustainable basis, with an average monthly income of at least ₹10,000 sustained for four agricultural seasons or business cycles.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Rural Development Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said that as on date, 1,48,32,258 SHG women have become Lakhpati Didis across the country.

Maharashtra, Andhra lead

Maharashtra topped the list with over 22.69 lakh Lakhpati Didis, followed by Andhra Pradesh (17.41 lakh), Bihar (14.47 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (12.84 lakh), West Bengal (11.59 lakh), and Uttar Pradesh (11.15 lakh).

The initiative is part of DAY-NRLM, a centrally sponsored scheme implemented in partnership with states and union territories (except Delhi and Chandigarh), to improve the livelihoods of poor rural households through social and financial inclusion.

The Minister stated that the initiative focuses on individual SHG women rather than entire groups, but the planning and implementation are spearheaded by community institutions such as SHGs, Village Organisations, and Cluster Level Federations.

He clarified that there is no separate budget for Lakhpati Didi as all its activities, including training, capacity building, and seed funding, are covered under DAY-NRLM. Additional financial support is facilitated through bank linkages and loans.

Central allocation under DAY-NRLM

For the current financial year, the total central allocation under DAY-NRLM stands at ₹13,608.75 crore, of which ₹1,793.86 crore has been released to states and UTs so far.

Bihar has been allocated ₹1,688.58 crore, the highest allocation after Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra has so far received ₹264.89 crore as central release under DAY-NRLM for FY 2025-26, while Bihar has been released ₹422.14 crore – the highest among all states so far this year.

Uttar Pradesh, despite an allocation of over ₹2,431 crore, is yet to receive any release in the current fiscal.