New Delhi: Focusing on women-led development, the government on Tuesday announced more than Rs 3 lakh crore for schemes benefiting women and girls.

"Increasing the participation of women in the workforce will be a priority," said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting her seventh Budget.

"This will be facilitated by setting up hostels and creating partnerships to organise women-specific skilling programmes and promotion of market access for women Self Help Group enterprises," she said.

She said, "We need to focus on the poor, women, youth and farmers."

Further, the allocation for women's welfare and empowerment saw a 218.8 per cent jump from FY14 to FY25.

"The growth is indicative of India's determination to shift from women-led development to women's development, as stated in the Economic Survey 2023–2024," the Finance Minister said.

(IANS)