62% of welfare scheme funds not utilised by UTs, states in ’24: Govt

New Delhi Of the ₹2.46 lakh crore released by the Centre for over 50 major schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, about 62% or approximately ₹1.54 lakh crore remained idle with state agencies as of December 31, government data showed.

For the first time, the Union budget for 2025-26 contained a new statement that shows fund balance under single nodal agency (SNA) accounts with state and Union territories with respect to select centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) of ₹500 crore and above. Expenditure secretary Manoj Govil said the purpose is to monitor expenditure and nudge implementing agencies such as the relevant central ministries and states to expedite developmental work. CSS are schemes jointly funded by the Centre and the state in a defined proportion and a state designates an SNA for implementing each CSS.

The budget contains details of not all CSS, but it mentions certain big schemes, Govil said.

“We see that in certain schemes, a large amount of money is available with the states or UTs. So, we have been monitoring this,” he said. The data for the same is derived from the Public Financial Management System (PFMS), the Centre’s financial management platform for all plan schemes.

“So, we have been monitoring this, and we have been urging both the central government ministries who are responsible for these schemes, as well as the states to see that this money, which is given to them, is not left in the bank account, but is utilised for the purpose that it was sanctioned,” he added.

According to the data, for the Samagra Shiksha, the Centre reduced the budget of the scheme marginally from ₹37,500 crore in the budget estimate (BE) for 2024-25 to ₹37,010 crore in the revised estimate (RE) stage. As on December 31, 2024, the Centre had released ₹17,605.05 crore under the scheme to states with a large unspent sum of ₹11,516.03 still available, including state shares.

Similarly, for the Prime Minister Aawas Yojana (PMAY) Urban, the BE was trimmed from ₹23,712.04 crore to ₹11,609.04 crore in the RE, because over ₹6,012.39 crore was still unspent with states and UTs, according to the data.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) or the National Rural Drinking Water Mission, the BE was ₹70,162.90 crore for FY25; it was slashed to ₹22,694 crore at the RE stage. The Centre released its share of ₹21,871.80 crore as on December 31, 2024 and ₹13,782.82 crore was the total amount available with states and UTs. The central share under JJM is, is however, not transferred to the state treasury but to the respective escrow accounts.

The data on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme showed both BE and RE for 2024-25 at ₹86,000 crore. The Centre released ₹79,625.97 crore to states as on December 31, 2024 and the unutilised funds available with the states on that date were ₹4,351.55 crore.

Since 2021-22, the Union government implements CSS funding through the SNA model, which aims at enhancing visibility and transparency in fund flows to states. “It seeks to ensure just-in-time release of scheme funds to states based on the pace of expenditure,” the budget document said.

“As the Union government/states borrow to finance their development/ 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,” it added.

For each scheme, the state government designates one SNA and opens its account in a scheduled commercial bank. All scheme funds remain only in the SNA account. Other scheme implementing agencies down the line open zero-balance subsidiary accounts to draw funds from the SNA account. State treasuries are integrated with the PFMS and exchange data on release of central and state share of CSS funds. SNA bank accounts are also mapped in the PFMS to get near real time information on fund availability in the SNA account through the core banking system, the document said.