New Delhi, Jan. 13 -- As India prepares for the upcoming Union Budget, Kalpana Ajayan, Regional Head - South Asia, Women's World Banking, has underscored the need for sharper, more gender-responsive policy interventions to deepen women's financial inclusion, particularly in rural India.

While speaking with ANI, Ajayan acknowledged the government's efforts to place women at the centre of policy design through initiatives such as Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra loans, and DBT-linked welfare schemes. However, she stressed that the next big leap must come from gender-disaggregated data, especially in financial inclusion metrics.

"If you don't know the size of the problem, you really can't solve it," Ajayan said, calling for male-female disaggregatio...