National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer

The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer (officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Female Playback Singer) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to a female playback singer for the best renditions of songs from soundtracks within the Indian film industry. The National Film Awards were called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954. The State Awards instituted the "Best Female Playback Singer" category in 1968. Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 53 Best Female Playback Singer awards to 30 different female playback singers.

Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award in this category received a commemorative plaque and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal" (silver lotus), certificate and a cash prize that amounted to inr 50000 in 2012. Although the Indian film industry produces films in more than 20 languages and dialects, the female playback singers who have received the 'Rajat Kamal' awards have recorded their renditions in nine major languages: Tamil (fifteen awards), Hindi (fourteen awards), Telugu (seven awards), Marathi (six awards), Bengali (six awards), Malayalam (four awards), Kannada (one award), Assamese (one award) and Konkani (one award).

The first recipient was P. Susheela, who was honoured at the 16th National Film Awards in 1968 for her rendition from the Tamil film Uyarntha Manithan. As of 2021, The female playback singer who won the most 'Rajat Kamal' awards is K. S. Chithra with six wins, followed by P. Susheela and Shreya Ghoshal with five wins each. S. Janaki won the award four times. Two female playback singers — Lata Mangeshkar and Vani Jairam have won it thrice, while three female playback singers — Asha Bhosle, Alka Yagnik and Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar have won it twice. Shreya Ghoshal won the award for her renditions in five different languages, followed by S. Janaki and K. S. Chithra, both of whom won for their renditions in three different languages. Sandhya Mukhopadhyay and Shreya Ghoshal are the only recipients who received the award for two renditions from two different films in the same year, with Ghoshal being the only recipient who received the award for two renditions from two different films in two different languages. K. S. Chithra and Roopa Ganguly are the only recipients who received the award for two renditions from the same film in the same year. Vani Jairam and Lata Mangeshkar are the only recipients who received the award for their various renditions in a single film in the same year. As of 2021, Uthara Unnikrishnan is the youngest recipient who received the award at the age of ten, and Nanjamma is the oldest recipient who received the award at the age of sixty-two. The only siblings who have received the award are Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. No award was given in this category at the 21st National Film Awards in 1973. The most recent recipient of the award is Shreya Ghoshal who was honoured at the 69th National Film Awards for the song "Mayava Chayava" from the Tamil film Iravin Nizhal.

Recipients