Ladki Bahin scheme: 1.57 crore continue to receive aid; 86 lakh beneficiaries dropped

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

“Currently 1.57 crore beneficiaries have received the December installment after the e-KYC process was completed,” said an official from the Women and Child Development (WCD) department.

The drop comes following eligibility verification conducted by the WCD, which applies criteria such as annual family income below Rs 2.5 lakh, elimination of duplicate entries, limit of two women per household, exclusion of families with government employees and others. Around 86 lakh beneficiaries were rejected within 17 months of the scheme being implemented.

The scheme started in July 2024 and 2.43 crore beneficiaries received ₹1,500 per month for five months till November 2024. According to WCD, 2.63 crore women have applied for the programme. Following the parliamentary elections, the government announced that beneficiaries would be vetted.

In December 2024, WCD minister Aditi Takare announced that 2.34 crore women had been verified and received assistance. In June 2025, Ms. Tatkare announced the distribution of the June installment to around 2.25 crore eligible beneficiaries of the Ladki Bahin Yojana after finding that even men were applying for the scheme.

24 lakh beneficiaries to be physically verified

1.88 crore beneficiaries opted for verification during the e-KYC process. However, WCD officials said around 24 lakh women were wrongly classified as State government employees due to delinquency and age-related questions, preventing them from getting one month’s financial assistance.

After much scrutiny, the government is now distributing ₹1,500 per month to 1.57 crore beneficiaries.

Following confusion over the mandatory e-KYC survey, Ms. Tatkare announced that WCD will extend the verification process by conducting physical verification of affected beneficiaries.

Ms. Tatkare, in her post on

Beneficiaries have been given time until December 31, 2025 to complete e-KYC to continue receiving the monthly benefit of ₹ 1,500 directly into their bank accounts. Some of the beneficiaries mentioned erroneous questions and technical glitches, including failure to receive OTPs, data mismatches and other errors.

The move came after complaints were forwarded to the collector’s office in the districts. Hira Lahange (45), a tribal working as a laborer from Palghar district, said, “I received ladki bahin money for four months. When they asked for KYC, I was not getting OTP as my daughter’s number was registered in her phone.”

“The physical verification will be done by the Anganwadi sevika and their demands will be checked. If they meet the criteria, they will continue to receive installments. The decision on whether the missed installments will be given to these beneficiaries will be taken by the political bosses,” a senior WCD official said.

WCD officials added that new applications will not be accepted under the program.