Govt Saved Rs 2.73 Lakh Crore In Last 9 Years With DBT Sending Money To Beneficiaries: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Nirmala Sitharaman said with DBT in place, pension, money for work, interest subvention and LPG gas subsidy transfer are being credited to Aadhaar-verified bank accounts of deserving beneficiaries

Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Efficiency in governance in the last nine years has improved the possibilities for more money available for, let us say, education and health because we adopted DBT."

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The government has saved Rs 2.73 lakh crore of taxpayers' money in the past nine years by adopting Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to send money to beneficiaries and weeding out bogus accounts, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday. Talking at an event, she said with DBT in place, pension, money for work, interest subvention and LPG gas subsidy transfer are being credited to Aadhaar-verified bank accounts of deserving beneficiaries, reported PTI. 

Speaking at an event organised by NGO Disha Bharat, Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Efficiency in governance in the last nine years has improved the possibilities for more money available for, let us say, education and health because we adopted DBT. Since 2014, by gradually increasing the number of schemes under DBT, we have saved Rs 2.73 lakh crore... this money is now being used for very many programmes. "

It has helped plug leakages and better targeting of genuine and deserving beneficiaries of the government scheme, she added. 

Sharing details of other government schemes over the previous nine years, the Finance Minister said that mobile data costs had dropped to Rs 9.94 per GB from Rs 308 in 2014 due to competition and government-enabled policy. In addition, she stated that the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has built 11.72 crore toilets and 3 crore dwellings in urban and rural regions. 39.76 lakh street vendors received loans without collateral under the Prime Minister Street Vendors AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi), while 9.6 crore LPG connections were provided through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

On June 1, 2020, the PM SVANidhi Scheme was launched for poor persons selling items on roads and tracks who were afflicted by the pandemic.

She further stated that Rs 7,351 crore in loans were made available to SC/ST beneficiaries under the Stand-Up India initiative, which aims to stimulate entrepreneurship at the grassroots level, the report said. The Stand-Up India Scheme, launched on April 5, 2016, with a focus on economic empowerment and job creation, has been extended till 2025. The scheme aims to encourage all bank branches in extending loans to borrowers from SC, ST and women for setting up their own greenfield enterprises.

Sitharaman said, "Many states are tempted to get into this, but it results in a huge cut down on developmental activities and above all, it gets loaded on those middle-class people. Promising free electricity or free bus ride leads to the middle class paying to fulfil those promises."

She said, "We are constantly reminding that unless you have enough money for balancing your developmental and welfare requirements, you cannot spend on freebies and further burden the future generations of India."