---
title: "Direct Benefit Transfer Definition | Model Diplomat"
description: "Direct Benefit Transfer is India's scheme for direct subsidy payments into bank accounts, reducing fraud and ensuring funds reach beneficiaries efficiently."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/direct-benefit-transfer"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- Direct Benefit Transfer is the Government of India's scheme to credit subsidies and welfare payments directly into beneficiaries' bank accounts to curb leakage and ghost beneficiaries.
- What is the JAM trinity and how does it enable DBT?
- Which Supreme Court judgment validated Aadhaar use for DBT?
- What is the principal criticism of DBT?
- Name three major schemes delivered through DBT.?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

Direct Benefit Transfer is the Government of India's scheme to credit subsidies and welfare payments directly into beneficiaries' bank accounts to curb leakage and ghost beneficiaries.

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## Timeline

1. 1 January 2013

   Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is a delivery-reform mechanism launched by the Government of India on to route subsidies, scholarships, pensions and wage paym…

2. 1 June 2013

   The flagship demonstration is PAHAL (DBTL), launched and re-launched 1 January 2015, under which LPG subsidy is credited to consumers who pay the market pri…

3. 1 January 2015

   The flagship demonstration is PAHAL (DBTL), launched 1 June 2013 and re-launched , under which LPG subsidy is credited to consumers who pay the market price…

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Example

In 2015 the Government of India re-launched PAHAL, crediting LPG subsidy directly to over 150 million consumers' Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, a scheme recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's largest cash-transfer programme.

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## Go deeper than the definition

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