An EAC-PM (Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister) paper analysed Maharashtra and Odisha women's direct cash transfer schemes and found significant behavioural shifts. In Maharashtra, male relatives of women receiving transfers spent 49% less and saved 23% more monthly, while women's own spending rose 46%. The study links conditional and unconditional cash transfers to enhanced female financial autonomy and altered intra-household resource allocation, offering evidence for expanding gender-targeted fiscal interventions across Indian states.

This EAC-PM paper matters because it moves the policy debate on Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) beyond simple poverty metrics into intra-household economics—an area rarely quantified in Indian policy research. The core finding is that when women receive cash directly, household spending patterns restructure: men reduce discretionary expenditure and save more, while women increase spending, likely on children's nutrition, education, and health—goods with higher social multipliers. This is consistent with global evidence (Progresa in Mexico, GiveDirectly in Kenya) that female income control yields better developmental outcomes than equivalent male transfers. For India, this has three implications: First, it validates state-level schemes like Maharashtra's Ladki Bahin Yojana (₹1,500/month) and Odisha's Subhadra Yojana (₹10,000/year) as tools not merely for consumption smoothing but for restructuring power within households. Second, it raises fiscal federalism questions—states are competing on cash transfer generosity, straining revenue deficits. Third, it challenges the paternalistic assumption that cash transfers cause wasteful spending; evidence here shows savings behaviour improves. For UPSC GS3 and GS1 (Women's issues), this paper provides a data-backed analytical lens connecting welfare schemes, financial inclusion, gender economics, and household behaviour change—all examinable angles.