Delhi government to launch Delhi Lakshmi Yojana financial aid scheme by August end
The Delhi government will launch its women’s financial assistance scheme, the ‘Delhi Lakshmi Yojana’, by the end of August to provide ₹2,500 per month to eligible women. The announcement was made by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on Monday following a high-level review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta at the Delhi Secretariat.
The scheme targets eligible women aged between 21 and 60 years to enhance their financial security. According to the CMO, the government has set a target to officially launch the initiative around the festival of Raksha Bandhan, which will be celebrated on August 28.
Strict eligibility criteria have been established for the scheme. To qualify, a woman or her family must have been residents of Delhi for at least 10 years. Additionally, neither the beneficiary nor her family members can have any criminal record.
The benefit is limited to one person per household, with only the eldest eligible woman in a family qualifying for the monthly assistance. Furthermore, the family's total annual income must not exceed ₹2.5 lakh.
Certain exclusions also apply. Women who are already receiving benefits under any other government pension or regular financial assistance scheme are not eligible for the Delhi Lakshmi Yojana. Families that own a four-wheeler are also excluded from receiving the benefits.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta stated that the government's objective is to provide a reliable foundation of financial security to empower women, enabling them to support their families and contribute to society. She described women's empowerment as a key pillar of good governance.
The scheme was originally a key campaign promise made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2025 Delhi Assembly election, when it was known as the 'Mahila Samriddhi Yojana'. During the campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised that the scheme would be approved in the first Cabinet meeting of a BJP government.
Although the Delhi Cabinet approved the scheme on March 8, 2025, with an initial allocation of ₹5,100 crore, it was not rolled out during that financial year. The budget allocation was subsequently revised to ₹5,110 crore in the annual budget presented in March this year.
