- PM CARES Fund reaches Rs 8,452 crore by March 2025.
- Over 92% of the fund is held in fixed deposits.
- Fund faces ongoing transparency concerns since its creation.
The Central government has released the latest audit report of the PM Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES), and the total amount has increased to Rs 8,452 crore by March 2025.
The latest audited accounts show that around 92.8 per cent of the total amount, or Rs 7,846.66 crore, was kept as fixed deposits in scheduled banks.
Huge increase in fund
In 2024-25, the fund had an opening balance of Rs 7,173.03 crore and received Rs 1,279.91 crore during the year through domestic and foreign donations, interest earnings and refunds.
However, its expenditure was only Rs 87.85 lakh, and hence the closing balance increased to Rs 8,452.07 crore.
The PM CARES Fund earned interest of Rs 469.38 crore from fixed deposits in FY25, while the earnings from savings bank accounts were Rs 5.77 crore.
2024-25 figures
Share of amount during 2024-25
- Domestic donations: Rs 479.04 crore
- Foreign donations: Rs 92.83 lakh
- Refunds from fund implementing agencies: Rs 324.66 crore
- TDS refunds on interest earned on fixed deposits: Rs 13.49 lakh.
PM Cares Fund created during Covid
The PM CARES Fund was created as a public charitable trust on March 27, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 28, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a public appeal to citizens to contribute to the fund.
Audited accounts show that a large amount of funds have been collected since the creation of the PM CARES Fund.
Year-wise data
2019-2020: In its first financial year, the fund received voluntary contributions of Rs 3,075.85 crore and foreign contributions of Rs 39.68 crore. With interest earnings and a starting deposit of Rs 2.25 lakh, the fund had a corpus of Rs 3,076.63 crore at the end of the year.
2020-21: The second financial year also saw a sharp increase in funds. During that financial year, the fund received Rs 7,183.78 crore from domestic donations and Rs 494.92 crore from foreign donations.
The fund received Rs 224.33 crore in interest on its regular account. The corpus amounted to Rs 10,990.17 crore.
The fund spent Rs 3,976.17 crore during 2020-21, mainly on COVID-19-related measures.
2021-22: The year also saw massive expenditure. In addition to interest and refunds, the fund received Rs 1,896.76 crore from voluntary contributions and Rs 40.12 crore from foreign contributions.
Expenditure was Rs 3,716.29 crore, including on oxygen-generation plants, 99,986 oxygen concentrators, oxygen-control systems, Covid hospitals, and liquid oxygen equipment. The closing balance dropped to rs 5,415.66 crore.
2022-23: Spending patterns changed significantly after the pandemic peaked. In 2022-23, the fund received Rs 1,307.41 crore and spending was Rs 439.38 crore. The closing balance increased to Rs 6,283.68 crore.
2023-24: The receipts stood at Rs 904.95 crore, while expenditures declined further to Rs 15.60 crore. Of this expenditure, Rs 15.38 crore was under the PM CARES for Children Scheme. The closing balance increased to Rs 7,173.03 crore.
Congress slams low utilisation
Congress was quick to call out the low utilisation of the fund despite the devastation and calamities across the country. Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Khera took a swipe at the government, quipping, "PM CARES? Hardly."
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In a post on X, he said that utilisation of the fund is at 0.01 per cent. "Only 0.01% of the Rs 8,452 crore available has been utilised — even as natural calamities devastate communities across the country and thousands need relief and rehabilitation. Rs 8,452 crore sitting idle while people suffer. PM CARES? Hardly"
Controversy around PM CARE
Notably, since the formation of the corpus fund, it has been under persistent criticism over transparency concerns. What added more to the controversy was its exclusion from the Right to Information (RTI). The government has argued that it is a public charitable trust and not a 'public authority' under the RTI Act.
Moreover, the government has also maintained that the discussion on the fund can not take place in the Lok Sabha as it is not financed by the Consolidated Fund of India.