The government has electronically transferred more than Rs.61,000 crore in the last financial year to March 30 through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, Finance Ministry data showed.
According to the data presented in Parliament, Rs.61,824.32 crore was transferred to 30.8 crore beneficiaries in 59 schemes. Out of this, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) payments made up Rs.25,800 crore, or 42 per cent of total DBT schemes.
This also means that 85 per cent of the MGNREGA payments made in 2015-16 were done directly into the beneficiary's bank accounts.
The second largest head under which DBT transfers were made was the PAHAL scheme for the electronic transfer of LPG subsidies. The government transferred Rs.21,400 crore under the PAHAL scheme in 2015-16, which is 35 per cent of the total amount transferred through DBT.
The Finance Ministry data also showed that 3.34 crore duplicate, fake, or inactive consumers were blocked under the PAHAL and related schemes as of April 1, 2015. That number may have increased since then.
Savings“The savings in LPG subsidy on account of this blocked customers, calculated at an average cash subsidy of Rs.150 taking the average cylinders used by a consumer at 6.5 comes to an estimated savings of Rs.3,300 crore in 2015-16,” according to the Finance Ministry statement.
The Department of Higher Education (Rs.1,975 crore), Ministry of Minority Affairs (Rs.1,134 crore) and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (Rs.955 crore) were the other government agencies that made substantial payments using the DBT model.
