Rs 480 cr transferred to beneficiaries through DBT since Jan 1

Of the total, the bulk of the funds totalling Rs 271 cr for 6.5 mn LPG consumers were provided through the Aadhaar-enabled platform

The government today said Rs 480 crore has been transferred so far into about nine million accounts under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme which was kicked off on January 1.

"Rs 480 crore under the schemes (covered by DBT) have been transferred for about 8-9 million transactions," DBT Mission Director S Sundareshan told reporters here.

Of the total, the bulk of the funds totalling Rs 271 crore for 6.5 million LPG consumers were provided through the Aadhaar-enabled platform by the oil marketing companies between June and August.

"The consumers have been transferred roughly Rs 271 crore through their bank accounts in about 6.5 million transactions starting beginning of June fully through the Aadhaar payment bridge," Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Joint Secretary Neeraj Mittal said.

Sundareshan said DBT has been launched in as many as 28 schemes in 121 districts. Of this approximately 20 schemes are scholarship schemes of various types, 3 are pension schemes, and balance are miscellaneous.

The amount disbursed so far is of the order of Rs 234 crore for all schemes apart from non-Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL).

"DBT is a process. It was launched on January 1, it is a historical process. So it is rather awkward at the end of 6 months or 4 months to say that the process is not been completed. It will take fair amount of time for the process to cover the large section. The process will never be completed for the reason that more and more beneficiaries will come into the system," Sundareshan said.