Nearly Rs 1 trillion unspent welfare funds lying in states' accounts

Funds to the tune of Rs 1 trillion for centrally sponsored schemes are lying unspent in the single nodal agency (SNA) accounts of states. Among these, the largest balance was allocated to schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana — Gramin, Jal Jeevan Mission, Urban Rejuvenation Mission —500 Cities, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 and Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban, according to the Budget FY26. The five schemes make up for nearly 45 per cent of the unutilised expenditure by the states.  

For each scheme, the state government designates one SNA and opens its account in a scheduled commercial bank to ensure just-in-time release of funds based on the pace of expenditure. The finance ministry in the Budget stated, “As the Union Government or States borrow to finance their development or welfare schemes, this system avoids float/idle parking of funds, which results in savings in interest costs for further productive use. This model also facilitates realistic and transparent budgeting.”

 

This is the first time that the government has included a statement on the status of SNA accounts in the budget. “It is a step towards better accounting and fiscal management,” a senior government official said.   

The Budget has allocated Rs 1.6 trillion towards central sector schemes for FY26, up 7.2 per cent from the revised estimate of the previous year.  

 

Allocation towards the Jal Jeevan Mission is Rs 67,000 crore, up from Rs 22,694 crore according to the Revised Estimates for FY25. The mission could not utilise even half of the budgetary allocation of Rs 70,162 crore in FY25, and still has over Rs 8,169 crore in the SNA balance.   

For Swachh Bharat Mission –Urban, the funds lying in the SNA balance (Rs 10,406 crore) is higher than the budgetary allocation of Rs 5,000 crore.  

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Grameen has the highest amount in SNA balance (Rs 13,111 crore) compared to any other centrally sponsored scheme.  

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) — 500 Cities is also among the five schemes with highest SNA balance. The scheme has unused funds of Rs 10,964 crore in its account.  

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the money lying unused is available for State and central governments to see and use before submitting demand for additional resources. 

  “This brings to the fore the implementation challenges of states, the need for action to remedy at the state level,” she had said in reply to the budget discussion in the Parliament.