Rs 9,605 crore paid to ineligible beneficiaries under Maha’s Ladki Bahin scheme

The Maharashtra government disbursed an estimated Rs 9,605 crore to around 92 lakh beneficiaries who were later found to be ineligible for assistance under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, according to data obtained through a Right to Information application and reported by the Hindustan Times.

Launched in June 2024, the scheme provides eligible women aged between 21 and 65 a monthly payment of Rs 1,500, provided their family income is below Rs 2.5 lakh annually. Although subsequent verification drives identified and removed several categories of ineligible beneficiaries, payments had already been made to them, Scroll.in reported.

By June 2026, about 62 lakh beneficiaries had been removed for failing to complete the e-KYC process, while around 16 lakh were found to have exceeded the annual family income limit. The remaining ineligible recipients included 3.6 lakh women who were already receiving assistance under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana, 2.5 lakh whose family already had another enrolled beneficiary, 1.8 lakh who were above the age limit of 65 and 4.5 lakh government employees.

District-level verification also led to the removal of another 1.7 lakh beneficiaries, the newspaper reported.

More than 2.1 crore women received payments for 17 months until November 2025, while the number of beneficiaries had reportedly risen to 2.4 crore between February and May 2025. As a result, monthly disbursals crossed Rs 3,640 crore, compared with the estimated Rs 2,450 crore that should have been paid to eligible beneficiaries.

RTI data showed that the Maharashtra government spent Rs 76,261 crore on the scheme over two years, making 46.1 crore payments instead of the estimated 39.7 crore payments due. The additional 6.4 crore credit entries accounted for the Rs 9,605 crore paid to beneficiaries who were subsequently found to be ineligible.

An unidentified official from the state women and child development department said that the government would seek to recover the money only from government employees and officers who had received the payments. Other beneficiaries found to be ineligible would not be required to return the money, the official added.

Around 1.6 crore women currently remain eligible for the scheme, according to the report.

The Ladki Bahin scheme has drawn criticism over the financial burden it has placed on the state exchequer, with regular scrutiny exercises also uncovering several cases of ineligible enrolment. The programme was widely credited with contributing to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance’s victory in 230 of the 288 Assembly seats in the November 2024 elections.

In October, Nationalist Congress Party leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal had alleged that the scheme was causing a fund shortage across government departments. In February, state minister Ganesh Naik acknowledged the financial pressure created by the programme but maintained that it would not be discontinued.

A review conducted in July 2025 had also found that more than 14,000 men had allegedly received monthly payments under the scheme for 10 months. Opposition leaders had accused the government of cutting the number of beneficiaries because of the state’s financial constraints.