As we head towards budget announcement this February, the country is gearing up for what Finance Minister Shri Nirmala Sitharaman has planned for the upcoming fiscal year.
This year the primary focus of the budget is to promote inclusive growth in the country and we are keen to hear about the reforms in light of Women’s Wellness, especially menstrual hygiene which is in line to receive its due focus.
The government can shift its strategies to a long-term outcome and emphasise on the initiation of the key reforms that are crucial for sustainable economic growth. From boosting the start-up ecosystem to providing tax relief on raw materials used to make menstrual products.
Today, every woman is impacted by monthly menstruation, and considering we are one-half of the country’s population, despite there being new reforms every year, it is still a heavily neglected space.
Although sanitary pads have been categorised under a tax-free bracket, the expenditure incurred in the production of these products is still taxable. We feel that decreasing the import duty for raw materials could catapult these businesses to stretch themselves into the market and meet the public demand.
The government should extend measures on educating and teaching women the importance of hygiene during periods, pregnancy, menopause, post-partum depression, polycystic ovary syndrome, mental health issues, and other general health-related issues.
Additionally, in the interest to go green and preserve women’s health from chemicals and toxins, the government can also adopt and promote the usage of greener environment-friendly- biodegradable menstrual products.
This one initiative could bring down the number of disposable sanitary products adding to landfills, a figure which currently sits at a staggering 12.3 billion annually.
The government could support start-ups who are endeavouring to offer biodegradable products at affordable prices through incentives and opportunities to reach out to states and villages.
Including these norms in the budget can in turn create more opportunities for potential businesswomen in India who want to focus on problem-solving for the gaps in what women need, and want.
Quoting the FM from last year “The role of women is a very sweet story in India’s growth, particularly in the rural economy. The government wishes to encourage and facilitate the role of women in India’s growth story.” Considering the government’s repeated announcement year on year in the budget on being woman-centric, the finance minister should be in a position to allocate funds to new schemes and committees to overlook the existing ones and ensure they see fruition.
This year, it is essential that the government should focus more on the proper implementation of existing schemes than introducing new schemes. During the announcement of the interim budget, the was a slight increase in the gender budget allocation to Rs 1,31,700 crore as against Rs 1,21,961 crore in 2018-19. Last year's interim FM Piyush Goyal had emphasised further the formation of women-specific schemes making 100 per cent allocation for women. A policy-level inducement for Made in India products and start-ups directed by women that focus on sustainability and solving women's issues can also drive the idea behind the budget allocation in the 2022-2022 cycle.
Further, we also expect the government to improve digital infrastructure in Tier-II, III cities, and rural regions so that the next group of consumers can enter the D2C ecosystem.
(The author is Founder and CEO at The Woman Company.)
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