Direct Benefit Transfer


Direct Benefit Transfer or DBT is an attempt to change the mechanism of transferring subsidies launched by Government of India on 1 January 2013. This program aims to transfer subsidies directly to the people through their bank accounts. It is hoped that crediting subsidies into bank accounts will reduce leakages, delays, etc.

Structure

The primary aim of this Direct Benefit Transfer program is to bring transparency and terminate pilferage from distribution of funds sponsored by Central Government of India. In DBT, benefit or subsidy will be directly transferred to citizens living below poverty line. Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System, being implemented by the Office of Controller General of Accounts, will act as the common platform for routing DBT. CPSMS can be used for the preparation of beneficiary list, digitally signing the same and processing of payments in the bank accounts of the beneficiary using the Aadhaar Payment Bridge of NPCI. All relevant orders related with the DBT are available on the CPSMS website.

History

The program was launched in selected cities of India on 1 January 2013. It was launched in 20 districts, covering scholarships and social security pensions initially.
Former Union Minister for Rural Development of India Jairam Ramesh and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Kiran Kumar Reddy inaugurated the scheme at Gollaprolu in East Godavari district on 6 January 2013. The government has decided to review the progress on regular basis.
The first review was scheduled to be undertaken on 15 January 2013. According to P. Chidambaram, former Union Minister of Finance of India, the scheme will be rolled out across 11 more districts by 1 February and 12 more districts by 1 March 2013.
In April 2013 the government decided to extend the DBT scheme in 78 more districts of the country from 1 July 2013. The decision was taken by then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh after a review meeting. The 78 new districts will include 6 districts each from Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, 3 each from Bihar and Tamil Nadu, 2 from West Bengal and 4 each from Odisha and Gujarat.
In a review by the Prime Minister's Office on 5 August 2013, the minutes reported that two schemes dominated transfers through CPSMS - 83% of all transfers were for the Janani Suraksha Yojana and scholarships. Lack of computerized records for schemes to be linked to DBT was hindering rollout. The minutes show that out of 39.76 lakh beneficiaries who ought to have been covered under various schemes, only 56% had bank accounts, 25.3% had both bank accounts and aadhaar numbers, but only 9.62% have bank accounts seeded with aadhaar numbers.

Programs part of DBT

On 1 June 2013, the minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, M Veerappa Moily formally launched the scheme direct benefit transfer for LPG Scheme in 20 high Aadhaar coverage districts. The subsidy on LPG cylinders will be credited directly to consumers' Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. All Aadhaar-linked domestic LPG consumers will get an advance in their bank account as soon as they book the first subsidized cylinder before delivery. On receiving the first subsidized cylinder subsidy for next will again get credited in their bank account, which can then be available for the purchase of the next cylinder at market rate until the cap of 12 cylinders per year is reached.
Modified Version of DBTL Scheme :
Government of India Introduced Modified Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG scheme in 54 districts in 11 states including all in Kerala starting 15 November 2014 whereby LPG consumers who have not yet availed the benefit will be able to get cash subsidy amount transferred into their accounts to buy Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinders at market price.
74 Schemes of 17 ministries of central government were under DBT by 31 May 2016. As DBT implemented on December 2017 in 400 schemes from 46 ministries.