A Project DEEP resource

Welcome to the India UCT Tracker

Over the past decade, Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCTs) have become a cornerstone of India's welfare system, enabled by the Jan Dhan–Aadhaar–Mobile (JAM) infrastructure, reaching crores of citizens — including over 13 crore women and ≈11 crore farmers.

Delivered with no strings attached, UCTs foster dignity, agency, and independence, driving outcomes in gender, education, healthcare and other critical areas. Yet no unified way exists to track these investments.

The UCT Tracker bridges that gap. It is a dashboard for policymakers, funders, and citizens to explore how government investments are shaping financial resilience across the country.

⚠️ Placeholder: the farmers figure (≈11 crore, PM-KISAN's approximate reach) is illustrative — replace with a confirmed number.
Overview

The 21-Fold Leap: Tracking India's ₹3.50 lakh crore UCT Expansion

How government spending grew from just ₹0.17 lakh crore in FY 2016-17 to now spanning 74 schemes across the central government and 23 States/UTs programmes.

The Evolution of UCT Funding in India
Total budgetary allocation across all schemes from 2011 to 2026 (in ₹ crore). Solid: Budgeted Estimates | Dashed: Actuals. Hover for details.
Budgeted Estimate (BE) Actuals (FY 2024-25) Policy milestone
Who are the UCTs Reaching?
A bird's-eye view of all active schemes and their budget outlays, categorized by the communities they serve (FY 2026-27 outlay in ₹ crore).
Schemes by recipients
Allocation by recipients · 2026-27 BE
Payout Frequency
How often scheme recipients actually receive their payments.
Explore UCTs by State
Select any state on the map to view its active UCT schemes, funding levels, and key policy details in the right-hand panel.
Low
High
Select a state on the map to see its schemes, funding and policy details.
Compare any two states
Pick any two states for a side-by-side read. This comparison is driven only by the two dropdowns below — clicking the map never changes it.
Policy Priorities: UCTs vs. Overall Social Sector Spending
Share of each state's total social-sector budget committed to UCTs in FY 2025-26 (BE), ranked highest to lowest.
Scheme Timeline

30% of UCTs have been introduced after 2020.

The post-pandemic UCT expansion was primarily led by women-centric transfer schemes introduced to enhance the financial independence of women and empower them to meet their needs.

Budget Tracker

PM-KISAN alone drives ₹1 in every ₹5 budgeted for direct cash.

With an outlay of ₹63,500 crore (~18.14% of the combined 2026-27 outlay of ₹3.50 lakh crore), a single farmer-support scheme leads national UCT allocations while the top ten programmes together account for ~69% of the combined outlay.

Top 10 Schemes by Budgeted Allocations
Figures in ₹ crore (BE) • Colour-coded by primary Recipients
Total Allocation by State
Aggregate outlay across all of a state's schemes, ranked. Figures in ₹ crore.
States × Recipients — Allocation Matrix · 2024-25 Actuals
Rows are states, columns are recipient groups. Cell shade encodes allocation (√-scaled so PM-KISAN doesn't flatten the range); the number is the scheme count. Click a recipient header to filter; hover a cell for detail.
FAQ & About

What counts as a cash transfer? Here's exactly what we counted.

Plain-language answers to how the dataset is built, what the tags mean, and where the numbers come from.

Footnotes & scheme notes

Data compiled by Project DEEP from Union and State budget documents. Not exhaustive; states reporting only in local languages and schemes without accessible budget data are excluded. To contribute, write to info@project-deep.org · deepproject.in