Contribution to PM CARES Fund fell to Rs 912 crore in 2022-23

The total voluntary contribution to the PM CARES Fund fell to Rs 912 crore in the fiscal year 2022-23, its lowest since the public charitable trust was created in March 2020 following the Covid outbreak.

A study of the audited statements on the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund website shows that the voluntary contribution peaked at Rs 7,184 crore in 2020-21 and then fell to Rs 1,938 crore in 2021-22, before declining further in 2022-23 as the Covid threat receded after 2021. The fiscal 2022-23 is the last year for which the statement is available on the website.

Foreign contribution saw a sharper decline, registering a high of Rs 495 crore in 2020-21, before falling to Rs 40 crore and Rs 2.57 crore in the next two years. The total expenditure in 2022-23 was around Rs 439 crore, with Rs 346 crore of it used by the “PM Cares for Children”, a government initiative to support children who lost both of their parents, legal guardians or surviving parents to the pandemic.