The Ministry of Women and Child Development provided data on women's asset ownership in India, based on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) conducted in 2019-21. The survey revealed that 42.3% of women aged 15-49 years own a house alone or jointly, compared to 60.1% of men in the same age group. Regarding land ownership, 31.7% of women aged 15-49 years own land alone or jointly, versus 42.3% of men.
The government promotes asset ownership and economic empowerment through several schemes. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)-Gramin, under the Ministry of Rural Development, mandates that house allotment be made in the name of the woman or jointly with her husband, except in cases of widowers, unmarried, separated persons, or transgender individuals. Similarly, PMAY(Urban), under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, requires the female head of the family to be the owner or co-owner of the house.
Other mentioned schemes include the Mahila Samridhi Yojana of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission of the Ministry of Rural Development. Furthermore, the Department of Land Resources has instructed all States and Union Territories to introduce a Gender column in the Record of Rights (RoR) to facilitate capturing information on women land owners. This information was provided in the Rajya Sabha by the Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Smt. Savitri Thakur.