Central schemes excel through DBT, transfer Rs 84,998 crore in FY18

DBT was introduced to bring transparency and eliminate pilferage from distribution of funds sponsored by Central government.

Illustration photo of an India Rupee note. Photo: Reuters

The Modi government's initiative to transfer amounts into citizens' accounts through direct benefit transfer (DBT) has touched new heights in fiscal year 2018.

The data released on its official homepage stated that total transaction under DBT reached an all-time high of Rs 84,988.01 crore – rising by 13.77% on yearly basis. The money transferred under DBT stood at Rs 74,707.05 crore in the last financial year.

Although the mechanism was launched by ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the year 2013, the DBT's performance has been quite commendable since the NDA government took over.

DBT transactions, which stood at Rs 7,367.70 crore in 2013-14, rose to Rs 38,926.15 crore in 2014-15, and further reached to Rs 61,942.43 crore in 2015-16.

If we look at this year's data, DBT has grown by a massive 1053.65% or 11.54 times since its inception.

Under DBT, funds worth Rs 25,515.29 crore were transferred under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in FY18. This performance is lower compared to Rs 37,311.92 crore transferred under this scheme in the last fiscal.

There is a list of 401 schemes operating through DBT, which are managed by 56 ministries of the government.

The schemes like Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Grameen, Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme- IGNOAPS, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship For ST Students, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and many more are successfully transferring funds to beneficiaries through DBT.

The DBT was introduced to bring transparency and eliminate pilferage from distribution of funds sponsored by Central government. The benefits arising from DBT are mostly transferred to citizens living below poverty line in India.

According to data, a total of 59.34 crore beneficiaries have been covered under DBT so far in FY18, higher compared to 35.7 crore beneficiaries in FY17, 31.25 crore beneficiaries in FY16, 22.82 crore beneficiaries in FY15 and 10.81 crore beneficiaries in FY14.

This has led to savings of Rs 57,029 crore in the financial year 2016-17, versus Rs 36,144 crore in the fiscal 2015-16.

The Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), which is implemented by the office of Controller General of Accounts, acts as the common platform for routing DBT.

The panel under DBT uses the Aadhaar Payment Bridge of NPCI for the preparation of beneficiary list, digitally signing the same and processing payments in the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.