Administrator
19 August 2026
The financial position of the PM CARES Fund, created in March 2020 amid the Covid-19 crisis, has now been made public for the financial year 2024-25. The fund recorded ₹8,452.95 crore in total receipts during the year, compared with ₹7,188.63 crore in 2023-24. Its closing balance stood at approximately ₹8,452 crore as of March 31, 2025, according to the audit report. The disclosure offers the clearest recent picture of the corpus and its financial movement.The final balance stood at Rs 8,452 crore on March 31.
A CORPUS THAT HAS CONTINUED TO GROW
The latest figures represent a substantial increase over the previous year. Total receipts rose from ₹7,188.63 crore to ₹8,452.95 crore in 2024-25 — an increase of about 17.6%. At the end of the financial year, the fund therefore held a corpus of roughly ₹8,452 crore. The significance of the number lies not merely in its size, but in what the corpus represents: a fund established specifically to respond to emergencies and extraordinary situations.
WHERE THE MONEY IS NOW
A substantial portion of the corpus was held in fixed deposits. The audited accounts show that ₹6,641 crore was parked in fixed deposits as of March 31, 2025. That means the fund's financial position is not simply a large cash balance sitting idle. A significant part of the corpus is being held as interest-bearing deposits, preserving and potentially increasing the fund while keeping it available for future requirements. The question that follows is therefore not simply how much money remains, but how an emergency fund of this scale should balance preparedness with deployment.
A FUND CREATED IN A CRISIS
PM CARES was established in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic created an unprecedented demand for emergency healthcare and relief. Its stated purpose was to receive voluntary contributions and deploy resources during emergency situations. The fund subsequently became one of the country's largest dedicated emergency-response financial pools. The latest disclosure shows that, more than five years after its creation, a substantial corpus remains intact.
THE QUESTION OF UTILISATION
The size of the corpus has inevitably drawn attention to its utilisation. The Congress has criticised the government over what it describes as extremely low expenditure from the fund during 2024-25, claiming that only about 0.01% of the corpus was utilised during the year. That criticism has become the political counterpoint to the government's position that maintaining a large reserve is part of emergency preparedness.
The numbers themselves are not in dispute; what they mean is.
PREPAREDNESS OR UNDER-UTILISATION?
There are two competing ways of reading the same balance sheet. One is that an emergency fund must remain financially strong precisely because emergencies are unpredictable. A large reserve provides the capacity to respond when the next crisis arrives. The other is that a fund created in response to an extraordinary public emergency should demonstrate a correspondingly clear record of deployment, particularly when its corpus runs into thousands of crores. The newly public data therefore shift the debate from whether the fund has money to how that money should be managed and deployed.
WHAT THE NUMBERS TELL US
|
Financial year |
Total receipts |
|
2023-24 |
₹7,188.63 crore |
|
2024-25 |
₹8,452.95 crore |
|
Closing balance, March 31, 2025 |
~₹8,452 crore |
The corpus grew even as utilisation remained relatively limited. At least ₹6,641 crore was held in fixed deposits at the end of the year.
THE LARGER ISSUE: TRUST
The release of the financial data matters because PM CARES has, since its creation, occupied an unusual place in India's public life. It was born during a national emergency. Millions contributed. Institutions and companies contributed. It became a symbol of collective financial mobilisation during the pandemic. Now, the latest audited figures place a number on what remains: ₹8,452 crore. That figure represents financial capacity. But it also raises a broader question of public accountability:
What should an emergency fund of this magnitude be expected to do between crises?
The answer will determine how the latest disclosure is ultimately understood — not simply as a statement of accounts, but as a measure of how India prepares for the next emergency.
