# PM CARES Fund balance rises to Rs 8,452 crore 2026-08-18T12:24:21+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 4 independent outlets The PM CARES Fund had a balance of Rs 8,452 crore on March 31, 2025, according to its latest audited report. Of this, Rs 7,846 crore was held in fixed deposits and Rs 605 crore in savings accounts. Interest from the deposits earned Rs 469.38 crore during 2024-25, the fund’s largest income source. Domestic donations fell to Rs 479.05 crore from Rs 681.81 crore a year earlier, while foreign donations declined to Rs 92.8 lakh from Rs 1.13 crore. Total payments dropped to Rs 87.85 lakh from about Rs 15.6 crore, including Rs 87.8 lakh spent under the PM CARES for Children Scheme. The Siasat reports that social media users questioned the low utilisation and the fund’s transparency. The fund was set up in 2020 for emergency and distress relief and has earlier financed oxygen plants and ventilators. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Three sources use straight PTI-style reporting, leading with falling donations, the larger corpus and the fund’s investment pattern. The Times of India gives more weight to the audit figures and interest income, while Siasat foregrounds the low current payments and social media criticism, creating a more government-critical frame. The latter also contains conflicting figures for foreign donations and an inaccurate percentage description, so its criticism needs to be read against the audited amounts. The wider record cited by PTI shows substantial earlier spending on pandemic infrastructure, but current-year deployment was limited. The next figures to watch are the fund’s 2025-26 payments and audited balance. ## Coverage Coverage: 4 sources, 1 government-critical, 3 neutral - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Leads with audited balance, receipts, investments and donations - siasat.com (government critical) Foregrounds low utilisation, secrecy concerns and social media criticism - rediff.com (neutral report) Provides audited figures, historical donations and prior spending - thefederal.com (neutral report) Syndicated PTI report presents figures and fund background This story was synthesised by AI from the 4 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 4 sources. Last updated 2026-08-18T13:51:15+00:00. Tags: Audit Report, Covid-19, PM CARES Fund, RTI Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/pm-cares-fund-balance-rises-to-rs-8452-crore-in-fy25/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/pm-cares-fund-balance-rises-to-rs-8452-crore-in-fy25/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/