PM CARES spent just Rs 88 lakh of its Rs 8,452 crore in 2024-25, put 93% in FD

Rs 20,000 annually to every school-going child orphaned by the COVID-19 pandemic — this was one of the major promises made by the Union government as part of the PM CARES Fund. But in the financial year 2024-2025, only a mere Rs 88 lakh was released for this purpose. The amount, if divided among the 3,383 children the government listed as beneficiaries of the PM CARES for Children Scheme, would come to only Rs Rs 2,596 per child. 

In fact, this Rs 88 lakh – making up 0.001 percent of the Fund’s corpus – was the only amount the Union government spent during 2024-25. By the end of FY ’25, the Fund had Rs 8,452 crore. Around 93 percent of this is kept in fixed deposits.  

The numbers were revealed when the PM CARES Fund released its receipts and payments accounts for the last two financial years, 2023-24 and 2024-25, after a long delay. 

The numbers that don’t add up

The PM CARES for Children scheme was launched in May 2021, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising support for children who lost parents during the COVID pandemic. It promises assistance for education, health insurance, support for boarding and lodging, and Rs 10 lakh when they turn 18. The PM CARES for Children website says 4,543 applications have been approved so far. 

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment told the Lok Sabha in December 2025 that under the PM CARES for Children scheme, an annual scholarship of Rs 20,000 is provided for each child – a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 plus an annual allowance of Rs 8,000 towards school fees, books, uniform, shoes, etc. 

But spending on PM CARES for Children has dropped drastically, from Rs 346 crore in FY ’23 to Rs 15 crore in FY ’24, to just Rs 88 lakh in FY ’25. 

The Union government claims it transferred these funds to 3,383 children in 2024-25. This should make up a total of Rs 6.76 crore. But the amount released to the scheme in FY ’25 , according to the PM CARES report, was Rs 87,84,840. 

This would amount to only Rs 2,596 for each of the 3,383 children, or Rs 20,000 for just 439 kids.

93 percent in fixed deposits

The reports also show that the Fund has moved a big chunk of its corpus into a fixed deposit. By the end of FY ’24, it had Rs 6,641 crore in fixed deposits, on which it reported receiving interests of Rs 469 crore during FY ’25. 

This nearly equals the amount received in domestic donations to the Fund during the same period, that is, Rs 479 crore. Another Rs 325 crore was received in refunds from implementing agencies. 

By the end of FY ’25, the Fund had kept Rs 7,847 crore in fixed deposits, which is 93 percent of its corpus. Only Rs 605 crore was kept in a savings account. This, despite many states facing disasters such as floods, cyclones, landslides, cold waves, etc. seeking funds for relief, and the Union government not meeting their demands.  

Journalist Poonam Agarwal, who has reported on the opacity around PM CARES, said that while the Fund was set up to deal with 'any kind of emergency or distress situation', the money is now lying idle.

"So many disasters happen every year, including the present Assam floods. Why are they not using this money over there?" she asked.

States such as Assam, Kerala, and Karnataka have pointed out that they had received only a small fraction of funds sought for relief for floods, landslides or drought. 

A Comptroller and Auditor General of India  (CAG) report recently revealed that the Union government has not spent even half of the funds under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). Of the total Rs 11,474 crore sanctioned under NDRF as assistance for calamities of severe nature, only Rs 5,356 crore was transferred to states. 

Unlike the NDRF, Poonam said in the case of PM CARES, people have donated their own money or were required to forego part of their salaries with the belief that it would be used to strengthen the public health sector.

Demands for transparency 

The PM CARES Fund is a ‘public charitable trust’ set up on March 27, 2020, soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It was formed to deal with emergency situations such as the pandemic and was registered under the Registration Act, 1908. However, since then, the only expenses shown by the Fund are towards COVID-related expenses such as ventilators, oxygen plants, vaccines, and benefits to children who lost their parents to COVID. 

Since its inception, the PM CARES Fund has remained outside the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, despite consistent efforts by RTI activists such as Lokesh Batra, Anjali Bharadwaj, and others, to demand transparency.

The Union government has repeatedly rejected RTI requests about PM CARES, claiming that the fund is not controlled by the government and is therefore not a ‘public authority’ under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. This is despite the Fund being run from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and managed by PMO officials.

Substantial donations were sent to PM CARES by cutting salaries of government staff including those in the railways, the Sports Authority of India, and the Department of Space, among others, as well as private sector banks and corporates. Some of them had even alleged that they faced pressure to donate to the fund.

The Companies Act, 2013, was even amended to allow donations through CSR (corporate social responsibility) funding to PM CARES. The impending Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, proposes key changes to the CSR rules under the same law, which has been criticised for reducing accountability for CSR expenditure. 

Uncapped CSR donations are only allowed for PM CARES, and not for the various chief ministers’ Relief Funds or the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF). This goes against previous guidelines stating that CSR should not be used to fund government schemes. A government panel had previously advised against allowing CSR contributions to the PMNRF on the grounds that the double benefit of tax exemption would be a “regressive incentive”.

In 2020, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court demanding transfer of the PM CARES Fund to the NDRF, which is audited by CAG, unlike the former. The Union government argued that it need not do so, and the Supreme Court agreed. It also ruled that there was no need for CAG to audit PM CARES. 

The Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF), set up in the aftermath of the Partition, is very similar to the PM CARES Fund. PMNRF too has remained outside the ambit of RTI. Critics have repeatedly questioned the need to establish PM CARES when PMNRF exists. 

PM CARES was earlier audited by an independent auditor, M/s SARC & Associates, who also audited PMNRF. From FY ’24, the auditor was changed to KKC & Associates LLP. But these audit reports have never been made public, 

Instead, a “receipts and payments account” is shared each year with very minimal details like opening balance, including savings and fixed deposit, receipts (domestic and foreign donations, interest, refunds), payments, and the closing balance. These accounts do not provide details of which agencies or hospitals received the money, why money was refunded from certain agencies, and whether the auditors found any lapses.

In comparison with PM CARES, by the end of FY ’25, PMNRF had a closing balance of Rs 355 crore. However, it had spent nearly Rs 282 crore on “Medical Assistance to Individuals/Hospitals” and “Ex-Gratia payments.” The accounts also showed that Rs 699 crore was placed in an “Investment in IDFC Bank Flexible FDR,” an amount not reflected in the closing balance.

This report was republished from The News Minute as part of The News Minute-Newslaundry alliance. Read about our partnership here and become a subscriber here.