Context: Care includes childcare, eldercare, disability support and assistance with daily activities. Its inadequate provision increases unpaid work, disproportionately borne by women, limiting their employment and participation in public life.
- Women’s unpaid care burden: According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2025, 44.4% of women outside the labour force cited childcare and homemaking as the main reason. The Time Use Survey 2024 found that 41% of women aged 15–59 provided unpaid care, spending an average of 140 minutes daily.
- Development imperative: Affordable, quality care services can increase women’s workforce participation, improve well-being and address the growing needs of India’s ageing population, supporting the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
Existing Care Infrastructure in India
- Early childhood care and nutrition: The Anganwadi network, strengthened through Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0, provides a foundation for early childhood development and nutrition.
- Childcare support: Palna, under Mission Shakti, supports crèche facilities for children.
- Other care needs: Mission Vatsalya, social security programmes and provisions for persons with disabilities and senior citizens address additional care and protection requirements.
Key Gaps in India’s Care Economy
- Fragmented governance: Care programmes are spread across ministries without a unified framework, resulting in gaps such as crèches that do not match factory shifts and inadequate coverage of eldercare needs.
- Inadequate coverage: UNDP estimates that 9–10 million women in low-income urban households need childcare. Around 24% of older persons face limitations in daily activities, while reliable national data on care-service availability and coverage remain limited.
- Undervalued care workforce: Anganwadi workers, home-based caregivers and domestic workers often face inadequate remuneration, honorary employment arrangements and limited career progression. Clear standards, certification, decent working conditions, social protection and career pathways are needed to recognise care as skilled work.
- Inadequate financing and gender norms: Care is often treated as welfare expenditure rather than productive social investment, while workplace practices presume caregiving is primarily women’s responsibility. The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has recommended statutory paid paternity leave in the private sector.
International Best Practices
- Colombia: Its 2025 National Care Policy brings 34 government entities under a common framework.
- Brazil: The 2024 National Care Policy and 2025 National Care Plan establish inter-ministerial committees for implementation.
- Nepal: Care mapping has been used to identify needs and guide funding for pilot care initiatives.
Policy Initiatives and Way Forward
- National Caregiving Council: NITI Aayog’s report, Reimagining Care: Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat@2047, proposes a National Caregiving Council to improve coordination across care-related programmes.
- National Care Economy Mission: A national workshop organised in May 2026 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment discussed a proposed mission based on inter-ministerial governance, aligned financing and shared data.
- State-level care roadmaps: States should map care needs alongside demographic trends, identify gaps in childcare, eldercare and disability support, and prepare costed plans with clearly assigned responsibilities.
- Workforce and enterprise development: Building on UNDP research and UN Women’s TransformCare initiative, efforts include mapping care services, skilling care workers and supporting women-led childcare enterprises in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Women Entrepreneurship Platform.
- Integrated accountability framework: India needs coordinated programmes, adequate financing, reliable data and measurable outcomes to ensure that care services are accessible, affordable and of good quality.
Significance for India
- Gender equality: Reduces women’s disproportionate unpaid care burden and expands economic opportunities.
- Employment generation: Professionalises care work, creates paid employment and supports women-led enterprises.
- Demographic preparedness: Addresses rising eldercare requirements and the needs of persons with disabilities.
- Inclusive growth: Recognising care as essential social and economic infrastructure can strengthen productivity, human development and progress towards Viksit Bharat 2047.
