In the year 2020, the PM Cares Fund, which was started with just Rs 2.25 lakh, had collected Rs 8,452 crore by March 31, 2025.
The official website of PM Cares Fund has released these figures.
But despite depositing Rs 8,452 crore, only Rs 87.85 lakh was spent from this fund in the year 2024-25.
The government made public the audited accounts of the PM Cares Fund for 2024-25 on Tuesday, August 18. But these figures have again raised many old and new questions.
In the year 2020, PM Cares Fund was established to help people in disasters and emergencies.
But critics say that in the last few years, floods, landslides, cyclones and other major natural disasters have occurred in many parts of the country, yet relatively little amount has been spent from the fund.
Interestingly, the income of the fund and the total amount deposited in it have been continuously increasing, while the expenses have remained quite limited. In such a situation, the question is being raised that when this fund has been created specifically for disaster relief, then why is it not being used on a wider scale in times of need.
What does the latest audit say?
According to the audit report of PM Cares Fund, out of the total donations received in the year 2024-25, Rs 479.04 crore came from within the country, while donations of about Rs 92 lakh came from abroad.
Apart from donations, this fund also received Rs 475.14 crore as interest, of which Rs 469.37 crore came from fixed deposits (FD) and Rs 5.76 crore from bank accounts.
Also, the fund received Rs 324.65 crore as refund from those agencies which had earlier given money for some project.
No information has been given as to which agencies these were and why the money was returned.
Apart from this, Rs 13.49 lakh also came to this fund as TDS refund.
According to the latest audit, 93 percent of the total amount of the fund, i.e. Rs 7,846 crore, is kept in fixed deposits (FD).
But as far as spending money from this fund is concerned, only Rs 87.85 lakh was spent in the year 2024-25.
Of this, Rs 87.84 lakh was spent on PM Cares for Children Scheme and Rs 451 lakh was spent on 'Bank Charges and SMS Charges'. Information about the works for which money was given under PM Cares for Children Scheme has not been given in the audit.
The PM CARES Fund was registered as a public charitable trust on 27 March 2020, a few days after the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown.
The Chairman of this fund is the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister are its trustees.
But till date this information has not been made public as to where the money has come from in this fund or who donated money to this fund.
Concerns about transparency?
Professor Ritika Khera is a well-known economist, who is currently working at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.
She says, "The PM Cares Fund is a shining example of transparency. The government makes its audited financial reports public, although there is a delay, but the disclosure is hollow and lacks real information."
Anjali Bhardwaj is a social activist who works on issues of right to information, transparency and accountability.
According to him, the biggest concern regarding PM Cares is the lack of transparency.
She says. "This fund was created to help people in times of disaster, but no information is being given to the people about where the money is coming into this fund and where this fund is spending the money. There is a Right to Information law in our country under which people can get information from many places which get financial assistance from public money on a large scale. But the PM Cares Fund has been kept out of the scope of the RTI Act."
According to Anjali Bhardwaj, when this fund was created, it was said that it is a fund created by the Central Government and hence CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds were collected in it. He says that in the very first few days, an amount of more than Rs 3000 crore was taken from PSUs as CSR funds in this fund and this was done by saying that this fund was created by the Central Government under the law and under the provisions of the Companies Act.
She says, "But when people started asking for information about where the money is being spent, how much money is coming from where, the government retrospectively changed the rules of the Companies Act and said that this fund has not been created by the Central Government and it is not a public authority under the RTI Act and hence no information can be given under the RTI Act."
Questions raised on shrinking expenditure
In the year 2024-25, there was Rs 8,452 crore in PM Cares Fund but only Rs 87.85 lakh was spent.
If we compare the expenditure incurred in the year 2024-25 with the previous years, Rs 15.59 crore was spent in the year 2023-24, Rs 437.87 crore in 2022-23, Rs 3,716.29 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 3,976.17 crore in 2020-21.
Looking at these figures it becomes clear that the amount of money being spent has continuously decreased and now questions are being raised on this too.
Professor Ritika Khera says, "People need to know whether there is any system or committee to decide the allocation of funds, who are the people in that committee and on what basis the decisions are taken. Along with this, information should also be made public on a regular basis as to who is donating and to which people or organizations the fund money has been given."
Anjali Bhardwaj says, "I cannot understand why so many funds are being collected and kept idle (not being used). It is not that disasters do not occur in the country. There are floods in different states, there are problems elsewhere, then why are these funds being collected when they are not to be spent. So this is a big question."
Anjali Bhardwaj also questions the refund of approximately Rs 325 crore received in the PM Cares Fund in the year 2024-25.
She says, "Now why was this refund done? What was the money spent on that got refunded?"
Anjali Bhardwaj says that the ventilators given to hospitals through PM Cares Fund during the Covid pandemic were defective and due to this many people died. She says that suo motu cognizance of this matter was taken by the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court and after some time it was seen that the refund of the faulty ventilators which were given through PM Cares Fund was taken and it was said in the court that now the refund has been taken and these ventilators were not given under PM Cares.
Continuing her point, she says, "So today when we see that there is a refund of Rs. 325 crores, then the question arises as to where the money was given from the PM Cares Fund and where there is a need for refund."
Similarly, no other information has been given in the audit regarding the PM Cares for Children Scheme on which Rs 87.84 lakh was spent in the year 2024-25.
Anjali Bhardwaj says, "If someone wants to check whether some work is being done for the benefit of the people, if something is being done for the children, then there is no need to hide it from the people. This information should be public. People should be able to check, if there is any matter of concern, people should be able to see and audit. It is very important that all this information should be made public. That information is not being given."
Non-transparency like electoral bonds?
The lack of transparency in the PM Cares Fund is also being linked to the issue of electoral bonds.
The biggest concern regarding electoral bonds was the lack of transparency. In this scheme, the public did not get information about which person or company gave how much money to which political party. This made it difficult for people to understand the source of political donations.
Anjali Bhardwaj says, "The important thing is that the government brings such instruments - sometimes it brings electoral bonds which are completely anonymous, sometimes it brings PM CARES which is a secret fund. In PM CARES there are leaders of the ruling party. The Prime Minister and Union Cabinet Ministers who are sitting in ex-official capacity and it is being said that this is a private fund. It is a fund and it is a public authority, otherwise there is a huge possibility of quid pro quo (giving something with the intention of getting something)."
Professor Ritika Khera says, "If we want to know whether there is any conflict of interest, then the information about who has donated should be made public. Only then can it be investigated. When the money is going to a fund linked to the government, then transparency is expected from it. But in this case there is a lack of transparency."
She says, "If everything is being done as per the rules and there are no irregularities, then the government should not hesitate to tell who donated, who received the money and how decisions were taken to spend it."
