Finally, the Central Government has made public the amount deposited in the PM Cares Fund for 2024-25 before the country. The government has released the audit statement of this fund. It has been told that till March 31, 2025, Rs 8,452 crore were deposited in the PM Cares Fund, whereas on March 31, 2024, this amount was Rs 7,173 crore.
The government has said that during the financial year 2024-25, there was a 30 percent decline in domestic donations received by PM Cares and it stood at Rs 479 crore. At the same time, foreign donations declined by 18 percent to Rs 92.8 lakh.
Also read: Why were the policemen in civil dress in the CJP protest? Police told the reason in SC
Rs 7,846 crore fixed deposits
According to the report, out of this, Rs 7,846 crore was deposited in fixed deposits and Rs 605 crore was kept in savings accounts. In the financial year 2023-24, the domestic donation received by PM Cares Fund was Rs 681.8 crore, while it received a total of Rs 1.13 crore foreign donation. This fund has spent Rs 87.8 lakh on the PM Cares for Children Scheme during 2024-25, which is much less than Rs 15.37 crore a year earlier.
Donation decreased year after year
The total payment during the year 2024-25 was Rs 87.85 lakh, whereas in the previous financial year this figure was Rs 15.6 crore. A study of the PM CARES audit report shows that voluntary domestic donations peaked at Rs 7,184 crore in 2020-21, declined to Rs 1,896 crore in 2021-22 and further declined to Rs 909 crore in 2022-23.
Rapid decline in foreign donations
According to the report, there has been a sharp decline in foreign donations. In the financial year 2020-21, foreign donation was received at Rs 495 crore, but in the next two years, foreign donation fell to Rs 40 crore and Rs 2.57 crore respectively. The foreign contribution now stands at Rs 92.8 lakh, the second lowest level after Rs 39.7 lakh recorded in the first year of 2019-20.
Also read: 253 arrested from 14 states, there was a plan for terrorist attacks on Independence Day
Why was PM Cares established?
The Narendra Modi government established the PM Cares Fund primarily with the objective of dealing with any emergency or critical situation (such as the Covid pandemic) and providing relief to the affected people. It was registered as a public charitable trust. The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairman of this fund. The fund is entirely funded by voluntary donations and receives no budgetary support.