Government has initiated Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) with effect from 1st January, 2013 in 43 identified districts for 24 selected schemes. Government vide O.M. No. I-11011/58/2013-DBT dated 13.2.2015 and 19.2.2015 expanded the scope of DBT to cover all Central Sector Schemes/Centrally Sponsored Schemes in which cash benefits are transferred to individual beneficiaries. During 2015-16, ₹ 61, 824.32 crore has been disbursed to 30.78 crore accounts in 59 schemes of 14 Ministries/Departments.

The roles and responsibility of State/UT Government in enumerating and identifying of the beneficiaries are as under:

i) To accurately identify beneficiary as per the eligibility norms of the scheme.

ii) To capture the details of the beneficiaries with Aadhaar and bank account.

iii) To digitize and upload the beneficiary’s details n IT portal.

iv) To update the beneficiary details regularly.

This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Direct Benefit Transfer expansion: states must identify beneficiaries, seed Aadhaar and bank accounts, and digitise records for cash transfers. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was expanded to cover all central schemes delivering cash benefits to individuals, with implementation guidance issued in February 2015. State and UT governments are responsible for identifying eligible beneficiaries, capturing Aadhaar and bank account details, digitising and uploading beneficiary records to the IT portal, and regularly updating those records to support electronic cash transfers.