Among the Mamata Banerjee government’s schemes over the last 50 months, it has spent the highest amount on its flagship Lakshmir Bhandar scheme — a programme widely believed to have yielded maximum political dividends for the ruling Trinamool Congress.
According to state a government data, Rs 74,000 crore has so far been spent on Lakshmir Bhandar, with 2,20,25,342 women receiving monthly assistance. Of them, 29,45,972 are from Scheduled Castes and 4,78,427 from Scheduled Tribes.
Ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections held during the Covid period, Mamata Banerjee promised Rs 500 per month for all women. After returning to power, the government launched the scheme in September 2021 and initially covered 1.39 crore beneficiaries. At the time, women from the general category received Rs 500 per month, while women from the SC and ST categories received Rs 1,000.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the 2024 Budget raised the monthly assistance for general-category women from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. For SC/ST women, it was increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200.
According to the state’s Women and Child Development and Social Welfare department, the government spent Rs 5,754 crore on Lakshmir Bhandar between September 2021 and March 2022. This rose to Rs 12,000 crore in 2022-23, Rs 13,500 crore in 2023-24, and Rs 25,900 crore in 2024-25. From April 2025 to date, nearly Rs 18,000 crore has been spent, taking the cumulative expenditure to Rs 74,000 crore in around four-and-a-half years.
A senior minister in Banerjee’s cabinet said, “It has not only helped to improve the social parameters of the state but has also helped create a secure vote bank for Trinamool Congress, which helped us win the 2021 Assembly election and the 2024 Lok Sabha election. We are expecting that the amount of Lakshmir Bhandar will increase before the 2026 Assembly election also, which will pave the way for our win again.”
On Tuesday, the Chief Minister said her government has spent “thousands of crore rupees” on several social welfare programmes, including Kanyashree, Rupashree, Sasthya Sathi and Lakshmir Bhandar. She said, “Even after the central government’s non-cooperation, we are running 95 social welfare programmes.” She added that the government has spent over Rs 5,000 crore on Rupashree, Rs 13,000 crore on Sasthya Sathi, and over Rs 10,000 crore on Kanyashree. Lakshmir Bhandar, however, accounts for the largest expenditure.
The government has recently linked Lakshmir Bhandar with the state’s old-age pension scheme. Women receiving Lakshmir Bhandar will automatically shift to an old-age pension once they turn 60. Currently, 7,85,683 women receive pension under this provision.
State Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Minister Sashi Panja said, “The uniqueness of this programme is that irrespective of caste, religion, creed and income group, all women are getting Lakshmir Bhandar every month. In Bihar, the NDA government gave a one-time ten thousand rupees, but people of Bihar don’t know whether this scheme will continue or not. In other states, such projects were announced but they too have many conditions. So, many women failed to get the advantage of such projects. But here in West Bengal, there is no condition… all women can get the advantage of this project.”
She added, “This has also helped increase the universal basic income of the state.”