Description

Women Rights, Law and Justice
Editor: Prof. Dr. Yogesh Kumar Gupta
Published by Universal Academic Books Publishers and Distributors,
New Delhi (India)
ISBN: 978-81-686113-2-0, 2026

Chapter 28

Invisible to Indispensable: Fiscal Feminism for Viksit Bharat @2047

Swaraj Dash
School of Economics, XIM University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

Abstract

Even as India advances toward the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047 with “Nari” or women as one of the pillars, women’s economic contributions remain paradoxically central yet systematically undervalued within fiscal policy frameworks. This paper introduces fiscal feminism as a transformative lens to reimagine public finance by placing women’s productive, reproductive, and care labour at the core of economic planning. Moving beyond conventional gender budgeting, the study argues that women are not merely beneficiaries of welfare expenditure but indispensable economic agents whose labour sustains households, markets, and the state itself. Drawing on feminist economics, public finance theory, and India’s evolving fiscal architecture, the paper critically examines how budgetary priorities, tax structures, and public investment choices either amplify or suppress women’s economic agency. The analysis integrates evidence from India’s gender budgets, care economy estimates, labour force participation trends, and flagship policy interventions to reveal structural mismatches between fiscal intent and developmental outcomes. It highlights how underinvestment in care infrastructure, health, mobility, and skilling generates hidden economic costs, constraining productivity and long-term growth. The paper proposes a shift from expenditure-focused gender inclusion to outcome-oriented fiscal design, where women’s time, mobility, and security are treated as macroeconomic variables rather than social add-ons. By framing women’s economic agency as growth-enabling infrastructure, this paper positions fiscal feminism as essential to India’s demographic dividend, social cohesion, and global competitiveness. The study concludes that making women fiscally visible is not a normative aspiration but an economic necessity for achieving an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Viksit Bharat @2047.

Keywords

Fiscal Feminism, Care Economy, Gender-Responsive Public Finance, Women-led Development, Viksit Bharat @2047

1. Introduction

India’s vision of becoming a developed nation by the time it completes one hundred years of independence— Viksit Bharat @2047—is more than a target of economic advancement. It represents a broader civilizational endeavour to redefine the country’s social, institutional, and developmental trajectory in a rapidly changing world (Government of India, 2020). Policy discourses and official narratives consistently position women at the centre of this transformation, frequently drawing on concepts such as Nari Shakti, women-led development, and the promise of inclusive growth to articulate their role in shaping India’s developmental future. Yet, beneath these affirmations lies a persistent tension. Women’s labour is central to the functioning of India’s economy, but it continues to be undervalued, rendered invisible, or inadequately recognized within fiscal and accounting frameworks (Press Information Bureau, 2025). This is not a coincidental oversight; it reflects deeper structural asymmetries within public finance systems that prioritize market-based production while overlooking the unpaid and underpaid work that sustains households, communities, and the economy itself.