38% dropped: Maharashtra removes 92 lakh Ladki Bahin beneficiaries after verification

Nearly four in every 10 women enrolled under Maharashtra’s flagship Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana have been removed after a state-wide verification exercise, with government records reviewed by The Indian Express showing that over 92 lakh beneficiaries were removed from the scheme — far higher than the around 80 lakh deletions publicly disclosed by the state government so far.

Most of those removed — nearly 62 lakh beneficiaries — failed to complete mandatory electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC). Others were found ineligible because they exceeded the scheme’s income ceiling, were government employees, were already receiving benefits under other welfare schemes, were above the age limit or, in nearly 29,000 cases, were men.

Officials associated with the exercise estimated that beneficiaries removed after verification had collectively received about Rs 14,000 crore before payments were stopped. On average, officials said, those whose payments were discontinued had received assistance for around 10 months, although there was no uniform cut-off because beneficiaries were identified at different stages of the verification process.

Since its launch ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections, budget allocations and supplementary provisions for the scheme have crossed Rs 60,000 crore. The scheme provides Rs 1,500 every month to women aged 21 to 65 years from families with an annual income below Rs 2.5 lakh. Government employees, income tax payers and beneficiaries of certain other welfare schemes are excluded.

Source: RTI

The scheme currently covers over 1.5 crore women, down from its peak of around 2.43 crore beneficiaries before the verification exercise, which began in September 2025.

The findings assume significance against the backdrop of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) questioning the financial management of the scheme.

In its audit of Maharashtra’s finances for 2024-25, the CAG flagged “significant deficiencies in budget estimation, expenditure control and financial management”. It cited excess expenditure of around Rs 3,541 crore without specific justification, parking of Rs 15,586 crore in government deposit accounts despite there being no immediate utilisation requirement, and weak financial controls. It recommended a more realistic assessment of beneficiary numbers and fund requirements while budgeting for large direct benefit transfer schemes.

Why were beneficiaries removed?

Government records reviewed by The Indian Express show that:

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Nearly 62 lakh beneficiaries (67%) were removed for failing to complete mandatory eKYC authentication.

Around 16 lakh (17%) belonged to families whose annual income exceeded the scheme’s eligibility ceiling of Rs 2.5 lakh.

About 4.42 lakh (4.8%) declared during verification that they or a family member were government employees.

Around 3.6 lakh (3.9%) were already receiving assistance under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana.

Nearly 2.5 lakh (2.7%) involved more than two members of the same family drawing benefits.

About 1.8 lakh (2%) were above the upper age limit of 65 years.

Nearly 1.7 lakh (1.8%) were flagged during district-level verification.

Separately, around 29,000 men and nearly 8,000 government employees were also found to have received benefits despite being ineligible.

Responding to The Indian Express findings, Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare said the mandatory eKYC exercise could not begin immediately after the scheme’s launch because of the Assembly election schedule and the Model Code of Conduct.

“The scheme was launched in June 2024 and the first two instalments were released together in August 2024. After that there were Assembly elections in November 2024 and the Model Code of Conduct came into force before October, because of which the eKYC exercise could not be started earlier. We decided on the exercise in August 2025 after the new government came in place and repeatedly announced that payments of beneficiaries who did not complete eKYC would be stopped,” Tatkare said.

She said beneficiaries were repeatedly given opportunities, including extensions till December 31, 2025, to complete the mandatory eKYC process before payments were stopped.

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“It is not that the government removed them. All those who had registered and were eligible received benefits till the eKYC procedure was completed,” she said.

On recovery of payments from ineligible beneficiaries, Tatkare said, “Even CM sir (Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis) has announced in the Assembly that except for the male beneficiaries and government staffers, money wouldn’t be recovered from any other beneficiaries.”

Earlier, in a reply to the Assembly, Tatkare had said recovery proceedings had been initiated against government employees, male beneficiaries and other ineligible recipients identified during the verification exercise under the Revenue Recovery Receipt mechanism, and that district collectors had been directed to recover the amounts paid to them.

The state government has also reduced the scheme’s allocation from Rs 36,000 crore in 2025-26 to Rs 26,500 crore in the current financial year, a cut of nearly Rs 9,500 crore. The Mahayuti government’s poll promise of increasing the monthly assistance from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100 has also not materialised.