NEW DELHI: The Centre’s transfer of assorted subsidies and sops to the beneficiaries through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) fell by 16% year-on-year to approximately ₹5.8 lakh crore in FY25, reflecting reduced leakages and a slower pace of implementation in certain schemes.DBT transfers had reached a record ₹7.16 lakh crore in FY23, primarily due to the free grains scheme and higher fertiliser subsidies driven by soaring prices.
The delay in rolling out new or revamped schemes following the presentation of the full Budget in July contributed to the decline. For instance, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) disbursed ₹21,356 crore in FY25, marking a 38% drop from ₹34,306 crore in FY24.In FY25, of the total DBT transfers, ₹3.57 lakh crore (62%) was in-kind benefits, while the remaining ₹2.23 lakh crore was in cash transfers to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.
Subsidy transfers for fertiliser stood at ₹1.7 lakh crore in FY25, 8% lower than in FY24, reflecting the easing of global prices. With the reduction in leakages and voluntary opt-outs, subsidised food grain DBT fell by 12.8%, totaling ₹1.49 lakh crore in FY25, compared to ₹1.71 lakh crore in FY24. Around 22 million beneficiaries under the food security programme did not avail of free grains for a period ranging from 3 to 12 months.
Under MGNREGS (the rural job guarantee scheme), ₹59,620 crore was disbursed in FY25, down from ₹66,895 crore in the previous year. As of March 30, 2025, more than 1,819 million beneficiaries were registered across various DBT schemes. Between FY15 and FY23, DBT implementation across 325 central government schemes resulted in ₹3.5 lakh crore in savings by eliminating inefficiencies.
During the same period, the deletion of over 50 million duplicate, fake, or non-existent ration cards helped the government save ₹1.86 lakh crore. Savings in cooking gas subsidies amounted to ₹73,443 crore, thanks to the elimination of 41.5 million duplicate, fake, or inactive LPG connections, as well as 24.5 million non-subsidised LPG consumers. Additionally, 11.3 million people voluntarily gave up their LPG subsidy.
The DBT-induced savings gave the managers of government finances significant headroom to improve the quality of spending and offer additional welfare benefits to deserving beneficiaries, without constraining the exchequer too much.
Following the widening of the schemes under DBT and aggressive Aadhaar seeding with bank accounts of beneficiaries to plug leakages, the Centre can better target the beneficiaries, substantially plugging leakages. The savings have been used by the Centre to launch new welfare and development schemes. Since DBT was rolled out in FY15, DBT cumulatively reached ₹42.56 lakh crore.
Source: The Financial Express
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