Cash-out: Issues with direct benefit transfer's growing ambit

Last week, the International Monetary Fund termed the deployment of India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme as a logistical marvel.

Coverage under DBT has increased 85 times since its initiation in 2013-14.

But a Business Standard analysis shows that the cash component under the scheme has reduced.

Instead, in-kind transfers have overtaken cash benefits. In-kind schemes, introduced in 2017-18, accounted for only 10.8 per cent of total benefits (cash and kind) dispensed under DBT. Today, in-kind transfers account for 60 per cent of total benefits.

Nevertheless, the government claims that the DBT