Cash transfer of all subsidies in 51 districts from Jan 1:FM

Aimed at checking pilferage, the ambitious government scheme based on Aadhaar-enabled mechanism will cover the entire country by end of 2013.

"We have only five weeks to roll out and once roll-out begins, we want roll-out to be completed in 600 odd districts in India...Larger number of districts will be added every quarter", he said while speaking at the annual banking 'Bancon' conference here.

Addressing chairman and managing directors of several leading banks, Chidambaram said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a meeting on Monday to discuss issues related to direct cash transfer of subsidy.

The government's major subsidy bill, which include payments towards food, fertiliser and petroleum, in the current fiscal was pegged at Rs 1.8 lakh crore. The outgo is expected to increase in view of the high prices of crude oil in the international market.

"Beginning January 1, 2013, (in) 51 districts of India, we wish to transfer all payments of Government of India directly to beneficiary through Aadhaar enabled bank accounts", the Minister said.

On growth, he said India is facing a difficult situation because the pace of economic expansion has declined to about 5.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2012-13. The growth in the second quarter is likely to be 5.5 per cent, he said.

The economy was growing by over 8 per cent in the two financial years before slowing to nine-year low of 6.5 per cent in 2011-12. (More) DM AA NKD CS PC TVS