Where is PM CARES’ Rs 8,452 crore? Latest accounts reveal where most of it is parked

That contrast sits at the heart of the latest audited accounts of the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, or PM CARES, which ended the financial year 2024-25 with a closing balance of Rs. 8,452.06 crore.

The fund recorded total payments of Rs. 87.85 lakh during FY25. Of this, Rs. 87.84 lakh was spent under the PM CARES for Children Scheme, while the remaining Rs. 451 went towards bank and SMS charges.

The figures have once again put the spotlight on how the fund's substantial corpus is held, how much it is deploying and what its latest accounts actually tell us.

Where is the Rs. 8,452 crore?

The answer is largely in bank deposits.

As of 31 March 2025, PM CARES had Rs. 7,846.65 crore parked in fixed deposits with scheduled banks. Another Rs. 605.41 crore was held in savings-bank accounts.

Together, the two figures account for the fund's entire closing balance of Rs. 8,452.06 crore. Nearly 93% of the corpus was therefore held in fixed deposits.

The fixed-deposit figure also needs to be read carefully. PM CARES began FY25 with Rs. 6,641.56 crore already held in fixed deposits. By the end of the financial year, that figure had increased to Rs. 7,846.65 crore.

That means the Rs. 6,641.56 crore was not an amount newly shifted into fixed deposits during FY25. It was the opening fixed-deposit balance for the year. The fund earned nearly Rs. 475 crore in interest

Keeping such a large portion of the corpus in deposits also generated substantial interest.

PM CARES earned around Rs. 475 crore in interest during FY25. Of this, approximately Rs. 469.37 crore came from fixed deposits, while Rs. 5.77 crore was earned on savings-bank balances.

The fund also received around Rs. 480 crore in donations during the year.

Its accounts further show Rs. 324.66 crore in refunds from implementing agencies. However, the financial statement does not provide a detailed project-by-project or agency-wise explanation of that refund figure.

After taking into account its receipts, interest income, payments and other entries, PM CARES closed FY25 with Rs. 8,452.06 crore.

What did PM CARES spend?

This is where the latest numbers stand out. The fund recorded payments of Rs. 87.85 lakh during FY25, an amount that is approximately 0.01% of its closing balance of Rs. 8,452.06 crore.

Almost the entire payment went towards the PM CARES for Children Scheme.

However, the comparison has to be understood in context. The 0.01% figure is calculated by comparing payments recorded in FY25 with the balance available at the end of that financial year.

It does not mean that only 0.01% of the total money ever received by PM CARES has been spent since the fund was established.

The audited accounts offer a picture of one financial year's transactions and the corpus available at its end, rather than a complete account of the fund's entire history of receipts and expenditure.

Why is PM CARES facing renewed scrutiny?

The latest balance sheet has revived questions around the size of the corpus, the significant amount held in fixed deposits and the relatively limited payments recorded during FY25.

Transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj has questioned the amount being retained in the fund and sought greater clarity over its utilisation but the accounts themselves do not establish misuse or wrongdoing.

What they establish is more specific: As of 31 March 2025, PM CARES had Rs. 8,452.06 crore, most of that money was held in fixed deposits, the fund earned around Rs. 475 crore in interest during the year, and it recorded Rs. 87.85 lakh in payments.

PM CARES and the NDRF are not the same

The fund's legal position has been under scrutiny since its creation in March 2020, when it was established amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In August 2020, the Supreme Court rejected a plea seeking the transfer of PM CARES funds to the National Disaster Response Fund, or NDRF.

The court treated the two as separate entities with different legal and operational structures. It did not order PM CARES to transfer its funds to the NDRF.

That distinction remains important because PM CARES is not the government's NDRF.

Why does the RTI question matter?

Another long-running issue concerns transparency under the Right to Information Act.

In proceedings before the Delhi High Court, the Centre has maintained that PM CARES is a public charitable trust and does not fall within the definition of the "State" under Article 12 of the Constitution or a ‘public authority’ under the RTI Act.

Whether PM CARES comes within the scope of the RTI Act has consequently remained part of the broader legal debate surrounding the trust.

What happened in Parliament?

The issue also surfaced in Parliament in January 2026.

The Prime Minister's Office told the Lok Sabha Secretariat that questions and other matters concerning PM CARES were not admissible under specified parliamentary rules.

The PMO's position was that the fund is based on voluntary contributions and does not receive allocations from the Consolidated Fund of India.

That was the government's position regarding the admissibility of parliamentary questions. It was not a Supreme Court ruling that PM CARES was beyond scrutiny.

The bigger picture

The latest accounts do not answer every question about PM CARES. They do, however, put hard numbers around the fund's financial position.

At the close of FY25, Rs. 7,846.65 crore was in fixed deposits and Rs. 605.41 crore was in savings-bank accounts. The fund earned approximately Rs. 475 crore in interest, received around Rs. 480 crore in donations, recorded Rs. 324.66 crore in refunds from implementing agencies and made payments of Rs. 87.85 lakh.

The numbers explain why the fund is back in focus. They show a substantial corpus, largely parked in fixed deposits, alongside relatively limited payments during the financial year.

What happens to that corpus next, and how it is deployed during future emergencies, is a question the latest accounts leave open.