Closing fake accounts in Govt schemes saved Rs 3.35 lakh cr

Weeding out fake beneficiaries of the government's schemes for food security, rural employment and fuel subsidy between FY18 and FY24 resulted in saving of about ₹3.35 lakh crore for the exchequer, according to a recent internal presentation of the department of expenditure.

The department identified and cancelled 50.1 million fake ration cards, struck off 41.3 million fake beneficiaries of the LPG subsidy scheme, 700,000 bogus names under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and 17.3 million fake beneficiaries under the PM Kisan scheme.

Savings in FY24 stood at ₹30,000 crore, said people familiar with the presentation made to the Cabinet secretary earlier this month on the economic agenda for the first 100 days of the new government.


"The amount will be much higher, if we take into account savings over the last 10 years," a senior official told ET.

Data included duplicate entries.

The official cited earlier said the Centre is working closely with state governments on plugging leakages and technology could play a greater role in this endeavour. The Centre initiated a special drive in May 2023 to identify leakages in the fertiliser subsidy. It formed squads to check the diversion of fertilizers for industrial use.

The squads, according to the official, registered more than 50 first information reports (FIRs), seized 100,000 bags of agrochemical and made several arrests under the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies Act.

Similarly, the central and state governments are jointly working on the beneficiary list under the PM Kisan scheme, removing duplicate or fake beneficiaries.

Officials said the efforts are reflected in the fall in the direct benefit transfer, which declined by a fifth against the total subsidy transfer in FY23.

"There is a 20.75% decline in the direct benefit transfer (DBT) in FY24 to ₹5.65 lakh crore in terms of subsidy and benefit transfers.

While falling commodity prices and discontinuation of extra free grains scheme also contributed to the savings, plugging of leakages was also a factor, the official said.

There was a 33% decline in food subsidies to beneficiaries under the public distribution system (PDS) this year, which amounted to ₹1.27 lakh crore.

Till date, the Centre has transferred ₹35.5 lakh crore to beneficiaries since 2014, according to the government data.