The ambitious direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme now covers more than 300 Central schemes, but despite the significant increase in its scope, the number of government beneficiaries and the value of transactions seem to be plateauing.

Between August this year and the last, the number of DBT beneficiaries increased by only 2 crore people, up from 32 crore last year to 34 crore, official data show. Similarly, the total value of transactions in August this year was ₹3,902 crore versus ₹3,459 crore a year ago.

Strikingly, the number of schemes under DBT shot up to 313 by August 2017, against a mere 75 a year ago.

In all, ₹40,891 crore has been transferred through DBT in 2017-18, encompassing over 78.8 crore transactions and 42 crore beneficiaries. Last fiscal, ₹74,607 crore was disbursed to 35.7 crore beneficiaries through DBT.

Officials point out that beneficiaries for schemes are not mutually exclusive, which means that though the number of schemes has increased under DBT, many of the beneficiaries could be the same.

Further, fund transfers for many schemes have either not started or do not take place every month, meaning that the transactions do not get reflected.

“The scheme has come a long way. The eventual aim is to cover 500 Central schemes under DBT. All payments to beneficiaries and workers would be through cash transfers,” said the official, adding that with on-boarding of DBT on the public financial management system, each transaction could be individually tracked. Aadhaar seeding under DBT has also seen a significant increase. In August 2017, nearly 90 per cent of all beneficiaries, numbering 30.28 crore, were Aadhaar-seeded.

This too is expected to improve as the Centre has extended the date for enrolling under Aadhaar, to utilise benefits of various schemes, to December 31.

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