Direct Benefit Transfer

Direct Benefit Transfer

Subject: Government Schemes

Context:

• Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lauded India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme as a “logistical marvel” that has reached hundreds of millions of people.
• The President of the World Bank Group, had also urged other nations to adopt India’s move of targeted cash transfer instead of broad subsidies

What is Direct Benefit Transfer:

• Direct Benefit Transfer is an attempt to change the mechanism of transferring subsidies and aims to establish a Giro system to transfer subsidies directly to the people through their linked bank accounts.
• It was launched by the Government of India on 1 January 2013.
• The DBT was inaugurated at Gollaprolu in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

Structure of the Direct Benefit Transfer:

• The Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), being implemented by the Office of Controller General of Accounts,acts as the common platform for routing DBT.
• CPSMS is also used to prepare the beneficiary list, digitally sign it, and process payments in the beneficiary’s bank accounts via the Aadhaar Payment Bridge.
• Aadhar is not mandatory to access benefits under DBT.