India’s national maternity benefit cash transfer program and child anthropometry

This study evaluates the impact of India’s Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), the world’s largest rights-based conditional cash transfer (CCT) program targeting women during their first pregnancy. Using National Family Health Survey data from 2005 to 2021, we assess changes in growth in a nationally representative sample of children, before and after program implementation. To address potential biases, we employ a quasi-experimental approach with a Propensity Scores Matched Difference in Differences analysis. We find that potential exposure to the program is associated with moderate improvements (0.10 SD) in height-for-age and weight-for-age z-scores. These effects likely operate through increased uptake of health interventions and consumption of certain food groups. The study underscores persistent barriers to program access and finds that women from higher socio-economic strata have entered the CCT beneficiary pool since 2017, suggesting a need for more equitable program targeting.