MUMBAI: Following a large-scale verification drive, the Maharashtra government disqualified 69 lakh women beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana and temporarily put the next instalment payment on hold.
The Maharashtra government clarified that only women who meet all eligibility conditions will continue receiving benefits under the scheme.
The 69 lakh women reportedly failed to comply with e-KYC and other criteria set by the state government and would therefore no longer receive benefits under the Ladki Bahin scheme.
Interestingly, when then chief minister Eknath Shinde launched the scheme ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2024, nearly 2.46 crore women had registered as beneficiaries. However, following the recent verification and scrutiny process, the number of eligible beneficiaries has reportedly fallen to around 1.77 crore.
Under the Ladki Bahin scheme, the Maharashtra government provides financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month to eligible poor and needy women. Initially, the annual expenditure for the scheme was estimated at around Rs 45,000 crore. It was later reduced to nearly Rs 36,000 crore and has now come down to Rs 26,000 crore.
The reduction in beneficiaries and efforts to control expenditure are among the key reasons behind the decision.
The state government, while reducing the number of beneficiaries after returning to power, said it had received several complaints that ineligible individuals were also receiving benefits under the scheme, causing losses to the state exchequer. This led to a state-wide verification drive.
“During the verification process, names were removed due to incomplete e-KYC, incorrect or incomplete documents, failure to meet eligibility criteria, errors in income or personal information, failure to update documents within the deadline etc. The government had extended the document update deadline multiple times since November 2025, but 30 April was declared the final date for compliance. And, in the final tally, it was found out that the 69 lakh women failed to comply with the norms therefore they were set to lose the benefits under this scheme,” said a government official requesting anonymity.
The official said that due to the mass verification drive, the state government has also halted the March and April instalments for this year. Once the process is completed, the amount will be transferred to the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries.
“We may also start recovery proceedings against women who allegedly received benefits despite not meeting eligibility conditions. A final decision on this matter is expected to be taken at the administrative and senior level. But here we cannot solely blame the women, it was the government and administrative responsibility to verify the details and documents before releasing the money,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“But at that time, votes of the women were important, which forced us to ignore the documents and release the amount and increase the beneficiaries numbers,” the official added.