Room to Read India has launched the sixth edition of its flagship girls’ education campaign, Har Kadam Beti Ke Sang, placing financial literacy at the centre of this year’s awareness drive. 

The campaign, unveiled in New Delhi, aims to strengthen financial decision-making skills among adolescent girls and encourage families, schools and communities to treat financial knowledge as an essential life competency, a press release by Room to Read India informed. 

The 2025 theme, “Financial Literacy Ki Aur Badhe Hum”, seeks to normalise discussions around money management, a topic often surrounded by stigma or limited to adults.

According to the press release, the campaign will introduce girls to everyday financial concepts such as budgeting, saving, needs versus wants, responsible spending, and understanding credit. 

The initiative hopes to build confidence, agency and long-term financial independence among young girls by equipping them with these tools early in their lives.

The campaign will run for a week and feature conversations with adolescents, educators, policymakers and practitioners on the role of financial awareness in shaping identity and future opportunities. 

Room to Read India is partnering with State Departments of Education, Women and Child Development, Tribal Welfare, District Gender Cells and State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) to ensure wider reach and integration of gender-responsive financial literacy programmes.

Poornima Garg, Country Director of Room to Read India, said, “Financial literacy gives girls more than economic skills—it gives them agency. Research shows that only 16.7% of Indian adolescents (ages 11–17) can correctly answer basic financial questions, and fewer than 20% of adolescent girls have ever made a personal purchase without seeking permission. These figures reflect not just gaps in knowledge, but lost opportunities for confidence and decision-making and financial awareness among Indian adolescents.” 

The campaign aligns with the National Education Policy 2020, Sustainable Development Goal 5 and India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, with the broader aim of embedding financial literacy in both formal education and community learning systems, the press release informs.