The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund saw the donations it received grow by 592% in 2024-25 to nearly ₹480 crore, as per the audited financial statements for 2023-24 and 2024-25, which it made available on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) after having failed to upload the annual disclosure documents since 2022-23.

The Hindu had highlighted the lapse on August 8. 

The PM CARES Fund, a public charitable trust established in March 2020 to support relief efforts during public health emergencies and other disasters, is chaired by the Prime Minister and funded entirely through voluntary contributions, as per information released by the Central government.

Barely any spending

Reacting to the belated disclosure, Anjali Bhardwaj, co-convenor of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), said in her social media post: “Finally the audit statement of PM CARES Fund for 2024-25 has been made public! Key highlights — utilised only 0.01% of available ₹8,452 crore!”

Ms. Bhardwaj was referring to the fact that while the Fund received a total income — including net donations, interest on bank deposits and fixed deposits, and refunds from implementing agencies — of ₹1,279.9 crore in 2024-25, it spent ₹87.85 lakh or 0.1% of that amount that year and 0.01% of the fund’s closing balance.

Taken together, from its start in March 2020 until March 31, 2025, the PM CARES Fund has spent less than one-fifth (18.7%) of what it has received as income.

High balances, opaque filings

As a result of low spending, the closing balance of the Fund has grown substantially over the years. The closing balance of the Fund stood at ₹8,452.06 crore in 2024-25, which is 17.8% higher than at the end of the previous year.

“Why is the PM CARES Fund keeping such large sums of money idle,” Ms. Bhardwaj further asked. She also pointed out that while ₹324 crore had been refunded by implementing agencies in 2024-25, no information had been provided on what these payments were for, why they were refunded, or which agency refunded them.

“Were refunds done to evade accountability for faulty equipment?” she said. “Also, why have accompanying notes to the audit report not been uploaded?”

Lack of accountability

Ms. Bhardwaj added that a fund set up to help citizens during disasters, which has accumulated thousands of crores, including from foreign sources, is “shrouded in secrecy”.

“Still no information available on sources of funds,” she said. “The PM CARES Fund continues to evade public scrutiny by refusing to submit itself to the RTI Act.”

Activists had previously questioned the absence of publicly available audit statements after FY 2022-23, saying this raised concerns about the transparency of the PM CARES Fund, which had been announced three days before the close of the 2019-20 financial year through a Central government communication.

They maintained that several thousand crore rupees were contributed under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provisions by public sector undertakings, which is public money. The fund was presented as having been set up by the Central Government, making it appear to be a public authority. Government employees also contributed from their salaries.

The Prime Minister chairs the fund in his ex-officio capacity and Union Cabinet Ministers are its trustees.

“However, when information regarding the funds collected and spent was sought, the government maintained that the trust is not a public authority under the RTI Act,” Ms. Bhardwaj had told The Hindu. “The Ministry of Corporate Affairs also retrospectively amended the relevant rules under the Companies Act. At present, PM CARES remains outside the ambit of the RTI Act, parliamentary scrutiny and audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).”

Published - August 18, 2026 05:31 pm IST