The latest audit report for the financial year 2024-25 of the 'Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund' (PM CARES Fund), formed in March 2020 during the severe crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been made public. According to the audit statement released on the official website, by March 31, 2025, the total corpus of this fund has increased to the level of Rs 8,452.07 crore.
However, soon after this audit report came out, social activists, financial experts and chartered accountants started raising serious questions regarding the huge amount of funds being kept in bank accounts, very little expenditure and long delay in releasing the report.
How to increase the scope of funds through FD and interest?
According to the data released in the report, a large part of the total amount in the fund has been kept in the form of Fixed Deposit (FD).
Surprisingly, as much as the PM CARES Fund received new donations (about ₹480 crore) during the financial year 2024-25, the fund has earned almost the same amount (₹475 crore) through interest on fixed deposits and savings accounts.
Total expenditure out of ₹8,452 crore is only ₹87.85 lakh
On one hand, while the total balance of the fund increased from Rs 7,173 crore to a huge figure of Rs 8,452 crore, on the other hand, the expenditure on relief work during this period was recorded to be very limited. The total payment shown for the entire financial year is only Rs 87.85 lakh.
Even out of this very small expenditure, Rs 87.84 lakh was released under 'PM CARES for Children Scheme' (to help orphan children who have lost their parents in the Covid pandemic). Apart from this, the remaining Rs 451 has been deducted as bank and SMS charges.
Why and what questions are now being raised on the audit report?
According to various media reports, as soon as the audit report became public, Right to Information (RTI) activists and financial experts have expressed concerns on many important points.
A Right to Information (RTI) activist raised the question that when this special fund was created only to provide immediate relief in emergency situations and sudden disasters, then why a huge amount of Rs 8,452 crore is being kept in the bank without being used? He also underlined that only 0.01% of the entire amount available has actually been spent.
The report also shows refund of Rs 324.66 crore received from implementing agencies like DRDO and NHAI. However, the brief one-page statement did not make it clear as to which project the refund was for or whether it was related to a faulty or defective equipment.
Moreover, the financial year had ended on March 31, 2025, but this audit report was signed in the first week of August 2026. Chartered accountants say the audit of two different financial years (FY24 and FY25) has been submitted together with such a delay. The opposition and social activists allege that there are continuous questions on the transparency of this fund due to it being completely kept out of the purview of CAG audit and RTI.
On the other hand, the Central Government and the Trust have had a clear stand on this entire matter from the beginning that PM CARES is a completely Public Charitable Trust. It runs entirely on voluntary contributions from people and no government budgetary money is invested in it. For this reason it does not fall under the category of “public authority” under the RTI Act.