New Delhi: The corpus of the PM CARES Fund rose to a record Rs 8,452.07 crore at the end of March 2025, with the latest audited accounts showing that Rs 7,846.66 crore, or about 92.8 per cent of the total corpus, was held in fixed deposits with scheduled banks.
The fund had an opening balance of Rs 7,173.03 crore in 2024-25 and received Rs 1,279.91 crore during the year through domestic and foreign donations, interest income and refunds. Its expenditure, however, was only Rs 87.85 lakh. The closing balance consequently rose to Rs 8,452.07 crore.
The closing corpus comprised Rs 605.41 crore in savings bank accounts and Rs 7,846.66 crore in fixed deposits. The fund earned Rs 469.38 crore in interest from fixed deposits during the year, compared with Rs 5.77 crore from savings bank accounts.
Domestic donations during 2024-25 stood at Rs 479.04 crore, while foreign donations were Rs 92.83 lakh. The fund also received Rs 324.66 crore in refunds from implementing agencies and Rs 13.49 lakh as refund of TDS on interest on fixed deposits.
The PM CARES Fund was constituted on 27 March 2020 as a public charitable trust amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On 28 March 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly appealed to citizens to contribute to the new fund, saying it had been constituted in response to people’s desire to contribute to India’s fight against COVID-19. He also said the fund would cater to similar distressing situations in the future.
The audited accounts show substantial mobilisation of funds after the fund was constituted. In the first financial year, ending 31 March 2020, the fund recorded Rs 3,075.85 crore in voluntary contributions and Rs 39.68 crore in foreign contributions. With interest income and the initial corpus of Rs 2.25 lakh, the fund closed the year with Rs 3,076.63 crore.
The inflow increased sharply in 2020-21. During that financial year, the fund received Rs 7,183.78 crore in voluntary contributions and Rs 494.92 crore in foreign contributions. It also earned Rs 224.33 crore as interest on its regular account. Including the opening balance and other receipts, total funds available during the year were Rs 10,990.17 crore.
The fund spent Rs 3,976.17 crore during 2020-21, primarily on COVID-19-related measures. The expenditure included Rs 1,311.33 crore on ventilators supplied to government hospitals, Rs 1,000 crore allocated to states and Union Territories for migrant welfare, Rs 500 crore for two 500-bed makeshift COVID hospitals in Muzaffarpur and Patna and RT-PCR testing laboratories, Rs 201.58 crore on pressure swing adsorption medical oxygen-generation plants, Rs 1,392.83 crore on procurement of 6.6 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine and Rs 20.41 crore for upgrading autonomous laboratories under the Department of Biotechnology. The closing balance was Rs 7,014 crore.
The heavy expenditure continued in 2021-22. The fund received Rs 1,896.76 crore in voluntary contributions and Rs 40.12 crore in foreign contributions, besides interest and refunds. It spent Rs 3,716.29 crore, including on oxygen-generation plants, 99,986 oxygen concentrators, oxygen-control systems, COVID hospitals and liquid oxygen equipment. The closing balance fell to Rs 5,415.66 crore.
The spending pattern changed substantially after the peak of the pandemic. In 2022-23, the fund received Rs 1,307.41 crore and spent Rs 439.38 crore. The expenditure included Rs 346 crore under the PM CARES for Children Scheme and Rs 91.87 crore on procurement of 99,986 oxygen concentrators. The closing balance rose to Rs 6,283.68 crore.
In 2023-24, receipts stood at Rs 904.95 crore while expenditure fell to Rs 15.60 crore. Of the expenditure, Rs 15.38 crore was under the PM CARES for Children Scheme. The closing balance increased to Rs 7,173.03 crore.
The latest year shows expenditure falling even further. In 2024-25, the fund spent only Rs 87.85 lakh, almost entirely under the PM CARES for Children Scheme, while its receipts and interest income pushed the corpus to a record Rs 8,452.07 crore.
The corpus stood at Rs 3,076.63 crore at the end of March 2020, rose to Rs 7,014 crore in March 2021, fell to Rs 5,415.66 crore in March 2022 following heavy COVID-related spending, and then increased to Rs 6,283.68 crore in March 2023, Rs 7,173.03 crore in March 2024 and Rs 8,452.07 crore in March 2025.
According to the fund’s stated objectives, PM CARES can support relief and assistance relating to public health emergencies and other emergencies, calamities or distress, including healthcare and pharmaceutical infrastructure, relevant research and financial assistance to affected populations. The fund states that it consists entirely of voluntary contributions and does not receive budgetary support. It also provides tax benefits on donations and has an FCRA exemption for receiving foreign contributions.
The audited accounts show a clear shift from heavy deployment during the COVID-19 emergency to substantially lower expenditure in subsequent years, while the corpus has continued to grow through contributions, interest income and refunds. As of 31 March 2025, more than nine-tenths of the corpus was held in fixed deposits.
