92 lakh beneficiaries removed from Maharashtra’s Ladki Bahin Yojana after verification: Report

As many as 92 lakh beneficiaries were removed from Maharashtra’s Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana after a state-wide verification exercise. Government records reviewed by The Indian Express show deletions far higher than the around 80 lakh publicly disclosed by the state government so far. The removals account for nearly four in every 10 women earlier enrolled under the scheme.

Most of those deleted, nearly 62 lakh, were removed for not completing mandatory electronic Know Your Customer (KYC) authentication, the report said. Others were found ineligible because their family income exceeded the ceiling, they were government employees, they were receiving benefits under other schemes, they were above the age limit, or in nearly 29,000 cases, they were men.

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

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The findings come as the Comptroller and Auditor General, in its State Finances Audit Report 2024-25 tabled in the state legislature on Friday, flagged excess expenditure, parking of funds in deposit accounts and weak financial controls in the implementation of the scheme.

The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana was approved on June 28, 2024 and provided ₹1,500 every month through Direct Benefit Transfer to eligible women aged 21 to 65 years from families with an annual income below ₹2.5 lakh. Government employees, income tax payers and beneficiaries of certain other welfare schemes are excluded.

The scheme currently covers more than 1.5 crore women, down from its peak of around 2.43 crore beneficiaries before the verification exercise began in September 2025. The scheme’s budget allocations and supplementary provisions have crossed ₹60,000 crore.

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Government records show that nearly 62 lakh beneficiaries, or 67 per cent of those removed, were deleted for failing to complete mandatory eKYC authentication. Around 16 lakh, or 17 per cent, belonged to families whose annual income exceeded the eligibility ceiling of ₹2.5 lakh. About 4.42 lakh, or 4.8 per cent, declared during verification that they or a family member were government employees.

Around 3.6 lakh, or 3.9 per cent, were already receiving assistance under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana. Nearly 2.5 lakh, or 2.7 per cent, involved more than two members of the same family drawing benefits. About 1.8 lakh, or 2 per cent, were above the upper age limit of 65 years, and nearly 1.7 lakh, or 1.8 per cent, 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.