MUMBAI, Aug. 22 -- The BJP-led Mahayuti government's flagship Ladki Bahin scheme, under fire since its launch for draining the state's treasury, has given away Rs.9,605 crore to individuals who were not eligible for the scheme. The welfare scheme, which provides women from economically weaker sections a monthly dole of Rs.1,500, was launched in July 2024 and is widely seen as having played a pivotal role in the Mahayuti coalition's victory in the Assembly elections. The scheme's list of beneficiaries has been sanitised several times over two years but this did not weed out all the ineligible beneficiaries. According to data obtained by HT through a Right to Information (RTI) application, the state spent Rs.9,605 crore on 9.2 million ineligible beneficiaries until June 2026. Of these, 6.2 million beneficiaries were removed for failing to complete e-KYC; 1.6 million were deleted as their family income exceeded the annual Rs.2.5-lakh cutoff; 360,000 were receiving benefits under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana; 250,000 were removed because another family member had enrolled under the scheme; 180,000 were older than the age limit of 65; and 450,000 were government employees. Another 170,000 beneficiaries were excluded after verification at the district level. The number of eligible beneficiaries is currently 16.57 million. However, more than 21 million received payments for 17 months until November 2025. Between February and May 2025, the number of beneficiaries was as high as 24.72 million. This resulted in monthly payouts exceeding Rs.3,640 crore, compared to the Rs.2,450 crore that should have been disbursed. The state government has spent Rs.76,261 crore on the scheme over 24 months. The number of payment credit entries should have been 397.58 million in 24 months, against which 461 million credit entries were recorded during the period. This resulted in Rs.9,605 crore being paid through 64.03 million credit entries into accounts of ineligible beneficiaries, according to the RTI information. Interestingly, the government will not recover the money handed out to most of the ineligible beneficiaries. It will recover it only from government employees and officers who received the monthly payout. "The decision was announced by the chief minister ahead of the monsoon session of the state legislature in June," said an official with the state women and child development department that oversees the Ladki Bahin Scheme. "We have written to the district collectorates to recover the money taken by government employees and officers and have sought a report. There are 450,000 such beneficiaries who had received benefits during the initial months, and recovery is due from them. The money will not be recovered from the other beneficiaries," said the official. The officer further said that the 6.2 million beneficiaries who failed to complete e-KYC did not complete the formality fearing action for having availed benefits they were not entitled to....