The Chief Minister's Office of Telangana announced on Monday, 25 May 2026 that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has laid the virtual foundation stone for 8,000 Indira Stree Shakti Bhavans across the state and unveiled a sweeping package to transform Self Help Group (SHG) women into millionaires by 2034. The announcements were made from the Dr B.R. Ambedkar State Secretariat in Hyderabad as part of the Praja Palana – Pragati Pranalika governance framework.

Context

Speaking at the event, CM Revanth Reddy declared: 'The entire cabinet treats every woman as its own sister and is moving forward with the goal of making one crore women millionaires by 2034.' The ceremony was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu and ministers including D. Sridhar Babu, Seethakka, and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, along with collectors from all districts and large numbers of SHG women who joined via video conference.

The CM also released the designs for Indiramma Cheeralu — sarees to be distributed to women — during the programme, and praised Nirmal district women's groups for achieving 100 percent loan repayment performance.

Policy Backdrop

The centrepiece announcement is the rollout of Indira Mahila Shakti Super Bazaars — corporate-grade retail outlets to be set up in all 119 constituency centres. The government will identify land at each centre and lease it to women's groups on a nominal rent basis for 30 years. The state will also provide a corpus fund, while each member will contribute a share of the investment capital. Revanth Reddy directed Minister Ponguleti to prepare proposals accordingly.

Beyond retail, collectors have been asked to draft proposals for setting up rice mills and godowns in every mandal under SHG management. The CM assured that land for 2 to 4 sites per mandal will be identified by the government, and zero-interest bank loans will be facilitated for construction. 'New millers and middlemen are cheating the government. Giving these operations to our women will bring accountability,' he said. 'In future, millers must source paddy directly from women.'

The state has already paid Rs 1,390 crore in interest subvention on SHG loans under the zero-interest scheme, and is now raising the bank linkage limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per group. Revanth Reddy also noted that free travel on RTC buses for women has resulted in payments of over Rs 10,000 crore to the corporation over 29 months.

Stakeholders and Impact

The package directly targets SHG women across Telangana's rural and semi-urban mandals, offering them ownership stakes in retail, milling, storage, and logistics infrastructure. The ambition, as stated by the CM, is to build a brand image for Mahila Shakti Bazaars that rivals corporate chain supermarkets — 'Women should buy quality daily essentials only from Mahila Shakti Bazaars; we must achieve that brand image and become the best supermarkets in the country.'

On the financial side, the government plans to allot 1,000 RTC buses to women's groups, generating rental income of approximately Rs 70,000 per month per bus. An additional 553 buses are to be handed over on 5 June at Hyderabad Parade Grounds. A V-Hub incubator programme for business planning support is scheduled for 29 May.

What's Next

District collectors are expected to submit proposals for mandal-level rice mill and godown sites in the coming weeks, while the government prepares the 30-year lease framework for the 119 constituency-level super bazaars. The V-Hub business incubator session and the next bus handover ceremony are the nearest milestones on the announced calendar.

If executed at scale, the combined infrastructure — community buildings, retail bazaars, grain storage, and milling units — would represent one of the most vertically integrated SHG enterprise models attempted by any Indian state, with Telangana's Congress government staking its welfare credentials firmly on measurable economic outcomes for women by 2034.