Under DBT, Rs 480 crore disbursed through in 9 million transactions

Number likely to shoot up significantly with extension of scheme for LPG in 235 more districts by January 2014

After initial hiccups, the government has credited Rs 480 crore to beneficiaries accounts through its ambitious Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme in about nine million transactions since the start of 2013.

The number is likely to shoot up significantly with extension of the scheme for LPG in 235 more districts by January 2014.

Of the total amount disbursed, about Rs 271 crore was transferred to 6.5 million LPG consumers through Aadhaar-enabled platform by oil marketing companies.

“Almost half the country, covering 289 districts, will get covered by the DBT for LPG by January 2014,” DBT Mission Director S Sundareshan told a press conference today.

DBT has been launched in as many as 28 schemes in 121 districts, of which about 20 are scholarship schemes of various types and three are pension schemes.

While the scheme was launched in January 2013 on a trial basis in 20 districts of the country, LPG transfers started only in June.There were initial problems in transfer of funds under DBT because of various snags.

DBT for LPG has already been launched so far in 54 districts of the country covering 21.9 million consumers and Rs 272 crore cash subsidy has been transferred through 6.23 million transactions into the bank accounts of the LPG consumers so far.

Sundareshan said Kerala would be the first state to cover all districts under DBT. He added there could be savings of 10-20% for the government when the scheme is rolled out across the country.

Under DBT for LPG, a cash subsidy of Rs 435 is directly deposited in bank accounts of household LPG consumers in advance to help them buy a 14.2-kg LPG cylinder at market price, which is double of a subsidised cylinder.

The moment the refill is bought, the subsidy prevalent on that day will be credited to Aadhaar-linked bank account of LPG consumer for another cylinder. Cash subsidy is provided for nine refills in a year under the scheme.

In order to avail transfer of cash subsidy into the bank account, Aadhaar number of the LPG consumer has to be linked to the LPG consumer number and bank account of the LPG consumer for which a three months grace period from date of launch is being provided.

During the grace period all consumers continue to get LPG cylinders at subsidized rate. After the grace period is over, all LPG consumers have to pay for LPG cylinders at market rate.