Around 68 lakh accounts under the Maharashtra government’s Ladki Bahin Yojana have been closed as beneficiaries did not complete the required e-KYC process before the deadline, officials said on Wednesday.
After closing these accounts, the total number of active accounts has come down to about 1.75 crore. Earlier, the scheme had around 2.43 crore accounts.
The deadline to complete e-KYC was March 31, but the government has now extended it till April 30. Officials said that the number of closed accounts may change if people complete their e-KYC during this extended period.
Officials explained that about 68 lakh accounts were closed because beneficiaries did not finish the e-KYC process within the given time.
The government started this verification process after receiving complaints. It was found that some ineligible people, such as men and government employees, had also received benefits under the scheme.
Under the Ladki Bahin Yojana, eligible women from poor families get ₹1,500 per month as financial support.
So, if 68 lakh people were not eligible for this scheme then it means that 68 lakh x Rs.1500 = Rs.1020 crore, per month was being credited to wrong beneficiaries.
Moreover, opening crores of accounts was a big challenge for banks and doing Re-Kyc of these accounts is again a very big challenge for Banks.
The e-KYC deadline has already been extended several times since November 2025 to give more time to beneficiaries.
The government currently spends about ₹3,700 crore every month on this scheme. With fewer active accounts now, this spending may change.
In the 2026–27 budget, the government has allocated ₹26,000 crore for the scheme. This is lower than the ₹36,000 crore allocated in 2025–26.
The Ladki Bahin Yojana was launched by the government before the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
During verification, more than 24 lakh beneficiaries were earlier marked as government employees. This happened because of a confusing question in Marathi, which led to wrong answers.
After checking again, around 20 lakh of these accounts were found eligible, and verification of the remaining cases is still going on.
The government has decided not to recover money from people who were later found ineligible.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde have said that the scheme will not be stopped in the future.
