Ladki Bahin scheme: 1.57 crore continues to receive support; 86 lakh beneficiaries declined

The Maharashtra government’s flagship Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme, launched as a mass welfare initiative, now covers only about 1.57 crore women, with the number of beneficiaries falling sharply from the 2.43 crore reported during its rollout.

“Currently, 1.57 crores beneficiaries have received the December payment after the e-KYC process was completed,” the Women and Child Development Department (WCD) official said.

The drop followed eligibility verification by the WCD, which applied criteria such as annual household income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh, elimination of dual enrollment, a limit of two women per household, exclusion of families with government employees, and others. Around 86 lakh beneficiaries were turned away in 17 months after the scheme was rolled out.

The scheme started in July 2024, with 2.43 crore beneficiaries receiving ₹1,500 per month for five months till November 2024. According to WCD, 2.63 crore women have registered for the scheme. After the parliamentary elections, the government announced an investigation into the beneficiaries.

In December 2024, WCD Minister Aditi Takare announced that 2.34 crore women have been verified and received benefits. In June 2025, Ms Tatkare announced that the June installment had been distributed to around 2.25 crore eligible beneficiaries of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, after finding that even men had signed up for the scheme.

24 lakh beneficiaries need to be physically verified

During the e-KYC process, 1.88 million beneficiaries opted for verification. However, around 24 lakh women were wrongly categorized as state government employees due to flawed and age-related questions, which prevented them from receiving one month’s financial assistance, WCD officials said.

After several rounds of audits, the government is currently paying ₹1,500 per month to 1.57 crore beneficiaries.

Following confusion over the mandatory e-KYC questionnaire, Ms Tatkare announced that the WCD would conduct a physical verification of the affected beneficiaries, extending the verification process.

“For the economic empowerment of women in Maharashtra, and to improve their health and nutrition, the Ladki Bahin program has been implemented. However, it has been observed that due to a number of reasons, the wrong option was selected while conducting e-KYC. Therefore, as per the criteria of the programme, instructions have been issued to all District Collectors in the State to conduct physical verification of these beneficiary women at the regional level through Anganwadi workers,” Ms Tatkare wrote on X.

Beneficiaries were given a deadline of December 31, 2025 to complete e-KYC so that they could continue receiving the monthly support of ₹1,500 directly into their bank accounts. Several beneficiaries cited flawed queries and technical issues, including failure to receive OTPs, data mismatches and other errors.

The move follows complaints filed with the collector’s office in several districts. “I received ladki bahin money for four months. When they asked for KYC, I did not get OTP on my daughter’s phone as her number was registered,” said Hira Lahange (45) from Palghar district, a tribal worker.

A senior WCD official said, “The physical verification will be done by Anganwadi Sevika and will check their claims. If they meet the criteria, they will continue to receive the installments. The decision whether the missed installments will be given to these beneficiaries will be decided by political bosses.”

WCD officials added that no new applications will be accepted under the scheme.