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The Rs 90000 monthly 'secret' families owe to one person - Explained
The Rs 90000 monthly 'secret' every Indian family owes to one person - Explained
You stay home all day, what exactly do you do?
Every working day, someone in India asks a housewife the same insulting question: "You stay home all day, what exactly do you do?"
Watch full video here: #DNA #DNAWithRahulSinha #WomensDay2026 #InternationalWomensDay @RahulSinhaTV pic.twitter.com/vevMQF8OFm— Zee News (@ZeeNews) March 7, 2026
Because the moment you replace a housewife with hired professionals, the bill arrives and it is staggering.
What the Delhi High Court said
The conversation around a housewife's economic value is no longer limited to family arguments. It has now entered Indian courtrooms. The Delhi High Court recently made a landmark observation while hearing a matrimonial case in which a magistrate's court had refused to grant interim alimony to a woman because she was healthy, educated, and had chosen not to work.
The High Court disagreed sharply. It ruled that a wife who does not hold a job is not idle. Her domestic contribution is real, measurable, and valuable. Ignoring it while determining alimony, the court stated, is unjust. The work a wife does at home directly enables the earning husband to function.
It was, in effect, a court putting a price on unpaid labour. And the numbers, when you break them down, are extraordinary.
According to the National Statistical Office, an average Indian housewife works seven hours and six minutes every single day. She does not hold one job. She holds several simultaneously and without complaint.
Consider what it would cost to replace her, service by service. A cook to prepare daily meals would charge between Rs 7,500 and Rs 8,500 per month. A housekeeper for cleaning would add Rs 2,400 to Rs 2,800. A maid for washing dishes would cost Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,400. Laundry and ironing services would amount to Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500. A personal shopper for groceries and errands would demand another Rs 1,000 toRs 1,500. A childcare professional or nanny would charge between Rs 8,000 and Rs 12,000.
Add these together. The total comes to between Rs 21,000 and Rs 27,000 per month and that covers only the basics.
Now add the rest. A private tutor for children's education costs Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000 per month. A caregiver for elderly parents in the household demands a similar amount. Even a therapist for emotional support, a service some urban families now employ, would charge Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500.
The complete monthly replacement cost of a housewife ranges from Rs 52,000 to Rs 90,000. Many salaried employees in India do not earn this much. Yet the woman providing all of it receives no salary, no recognition, and, in too many households, not even basic respect.
In cities like Delhi, a family saves between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh annually, not because they are frugal, but because a housewife has made that saving possible.
The State Bank of India published a report in 2023 that quantified the unpaid labour of Indian housewives at the national level. The figure is almost difficult to absorb: India's housewives collectively perform work worth approximately Rs 22.7 lakh crore every year. That is 7.5 percent of India's GDP.
The International Labour Organisation estimates that the true figure may be even higher, closer to 13 percent of GDP, or approximately Rs 40 lakh crore annually.
To place that in perspective: the unpaid work of Indian housewives is 3.3 times larger than India's entire defence budget. It is 17 times larger than the combined central government expenditure on education and health.
India's housewives are not managing households. They are quietly, invisibly, and without compensation managing a parallel economy, one that the GDP calculations of this country do not even acknowledge.
So the next time someone asks a housewife what she does all day, here is the answer.
She runs a catering service, a cleaning agency, a childcare centre, a tutoring institute, a logistics operation, an elder-care facility, and an emotional support system, all at once, all for free, and all without so much as a payslip.
She doesn’t just run the house. She supports the economy.
Source: ZeeNews
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