**Executive Summary**
This document provides the Minister of Rural Development's answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1508, concerning the pendency of wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as of December 9, 2025. It details wage payment processes, fund releases, and monitoring mechanisms. It also notes that pending wage liabilities up to FY 2024-25 have been cleared, except for West Bengal.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Wage Payment Process:**
* Wage payments are directly credited to beneficiaries' accounts by the Central Government through Direct Benefit Transfer.
* Sanctions for wage payments are issued daily by the Ministry via the Public Finance Management System (PFMS).
* States/UTs must submit fund transfer orders.
* Admissible pending liabilities from previous years are reimbursed by the Government of India at the beginning of each financial year.
* **Fund Release:**
* States/UTs must provide fund release proposals for Material and Admin components.
* The Central Government releases funds periodically in two tranches, considering various factors such as Labour Budget, demand for works, utilization of funds, and submission of documents.
* As of December 3, 2025, Rs. 69,972.95 crore has been released for FY 2025-26, including Rs. 58,990.15 crore for the Wage component and Rs. 10,982.80 crore for Material and Admin components.
* 97.96% of Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) are generated within 15 days from muster roll closure.
* **Monitoring and Transparency:**
* The MGNREGS operates a Management Information System (MIS) portal within NREGASoft for tracking muster rolls, payments, pending disbursements, and delay compensation (nrega.dord.gov.in).
* States/UTs are urged to use these digital tools for expedited wage disbursement and monitoring of pendency.
* **Pending Liabilities (as of December 3, 2025):**
* State/Union Territory-wise details of pending liabilities for Wage and Material component under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is provided in Annexure to the document.
* Pending Wage Liabilities up to FY 2024-25 have already been cleared except in case of State of West Bengal.
* The document provides the state-wise list of liabilities for the wage and material component.
* **West Bengal Specifics:**
* Proposal for upward revision of the Labour Budget for FY 2021-22 was not approved, and fund releases were stopped due to non-compliance with Central Government directives.
* As of March 8, 2022, the pending liability pertaining to West Bengal stands at ₹3082.52 crore, subject to verification by the Central Government.
**Impact Analysis**
**States/Union Territories**
*Impact:* Affected by the process of fund release, documentation requirements, and adherence to monitoring systems. Liabilities will impact budget and financial planning.
*Action Required:* Provide timely and accurate fund release proposals, utilize digital tools for monitoring, and ensure compliance with the directives to facilitate fund disbursement.
**Beneficiaries (MGNREGS Workers)**
*Impact:* Timely wage payments are directly linked to the efficiency of the processes outlined in the document. Delays in fund release and procedural bottlenecks can impact wage disbursement.
*Action Required:* N/A
**Ministry of Rural Development**
*Impact:* Responsible for overseeing the implementation of the MGNREGS scheme, managing fund releases, and ensuring compliance.
*Action Required:* Continuous monitoring of the scheme's progress, timely release of funds, and effective communication with States/UTs to address any issues.
Key Entities Referenced
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): A scheme guaranteeing wage employment to rural households. The document discusses wage payments under this scheme.
Ministry of Rural Development: The central ministry responsible for implementing MGNREGS. It issues sanctions for wage payments.
Public Finance Management System (PFMS): A system used by the Ministry to issue sanctions for wage payments. Payments are processed through PFMS based on fund transfer orders.
States/Union Territories: The locations where MGNREGS is implemented and to which funds are released. The document provides details on pending liabilities for each State/UT.
NREGASoft: The Management Information System (MIS) portal of MGNREGS, tracking status of payments, disbursements and delays.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1508
ANSWERED ON 09/12/2025
PENDENCY OF WAGE PAYMENTS UNDER MGNREGS
1508. Shri Abhishek Banerjee:
Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) the details of pendency of wage payments under Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) from April to October 2025, State and month-wise;
(b) the average time taken for crediting wages in each State;
(c) the material-component arrears outstanding as of September
2025; and
(d) whether a public dashboard for time-bound disclosure of wage
delays will be deployed, if so, the details thereof?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)
(a), (b)& (c): Under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS, the wage payments are
directly credited by the Central Government to the accounts of the
beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer protocol. Sanctions for
wage payments are issued daily by the Ministry through the Public
Finance Management System (PFMS) based on fund transfer orders
received from the States/ UTs after following due procedures. At
the beginning of each financial year, admissible pending liabilities
of the previous years, if any, are duly reimbursed by the Government
of India. Accordingly, all due and admissible pending wage
liabilities upto FY 2024-25 have already been cleared (except in
case of State of West Bengal).
With regard to Material and Admin components, States/UTs are
required to furnish fund release proposals to the Government of
India. The Central Government releases funds periodically in two
Page 1 of 3tranches with each tranche consisting of one or more installments,
keeping in view the “agreed to” Labour Budget, demand for works,
opening balance, pace of utilization of funds, pending liabilities,
overall performance and subject to submission of relevant
documents by the States/UTs.
Under the Scheme, in the current financial year 2025-26 (as on
03.12.2025), an amount of Rs. 69,972.95 crore has been released to
the States/Union Territories, which includes Rs. 58,990.15 crore for
Wage component and an amount of Rs.10,982.80 crore for Material
and Admin components. As Sanction for payment of wages are
issued by Ministry on a daily basis through PFMS (Public Finance
Management System), after receipt of funds transfer orders from
States/UTs after following the due procedures, the fund release
status keeps updating on a daily basis. In the financial year 2025-
26 (as on 05.12.2025), 97.96% Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) are
generated within 15 days from the closure of muster rolls under
Mahatma Gandhi NREGS.
State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of pending liabilities for
Wage and Material component under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS as on
03.12.2025 are given at Annexure.
(d): Mahatma Gandhi NREGS operates Management Information
System (MIS) portal within NREGASoft that tracks the status of
muster rolls, payments, pending disbursements and delay
compensation for wages (nrega.dord.gov.in). The Ministry
continuously urges States/UTs to use these digital tools to expedite
wage disbursement, monitor pendency across the mandated T+15
or T+8 timelines, and ensure real-time information on status of wage
payments.
*****
Page 2 of 3Annexure
Annexure referred to in reply to parts(a), (b)&(c) of LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 1508 dated
09.12.2025.
State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of pending liabilities for Wage and Material component under
Mahatma Gandhi NREGS as on 03.12.2025 (Rs. in crores)
Sl. No. States/UTs Wage Material
1 Andhra Pradesh 399.97 556.32
2 Arunachal Pradesh 12.80 143.69
3 Assam 0.33 404.27
4 Bihar 9.75 396.77
5 Chhattisgarh 3.28 103.62
6 Goa 0.00 0.43
7 Gujarat 59.88 21.33
8 Haryana 0.32 42.67
9 Himachal Pradesh 1.49 68.17
10 Jammu And Kashmir 6.10 192.00
11 Jharkhand 7.58 298.71
12 Karnataka 6.30 575.98
13 Kerala 329.42 186.80
14 Ladakh 0.64 2.47
15 Madhya Pradesh 123.48 643.14
16 Maharashtra 10.78 684.30
17 Manipur 1.76 154.19
18 Meghalaya 4.93 58.72
19 Mizoram 13.48 0.25
20 Nagaland 12.74 87.82
21 Odisha 9.41 227.12
22 Punjab 1.71 113.32
23 Rajasthan 4.45 827.74
24 Sikkim 0.10 2.43
25 Tamil Nadu 225.71 622.85
26 Telangana 0.99 500.08
27 Tripura 1.35 144.40
28 Uttar Pradesh 17.50 1042.84
29 Uttarakhand 1.51 51.17
30 West Bengal ** **
31 Andaman And Nicobar 0.00 0.03
32 Dadra & Nagar Haveli Daman & Diu 1.29 0.02
33 Lakshadweep 0.00 0.00
34 Puducherry 16.99 0.00
Total 1286.04 8153.65*
*Note: The data as per PFMS/MIS and Pending liability of the previous year for the material component.
**The proposal for upward revision of the Labour Budget for FY 2021-22 for the State of West Bengal
was not approved by the Empowered Committee, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(Mahatma Gandhi NREGS), Department of Rural Development due to non-compliance with the
directives issued by this Department. Subsequently, the release of funds to the State of West Bengal
under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS)
was also stopped with effect from 09.03.2022 by invoking the provisions of Section 27 of the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, owing to continued non-compliance with the
directives of the Central Government by the State.
As per NREGASoft, the pending liability pertaining to the State of West Bengal (as on 08.03.2022)
stands at ₹3082.52 crore, comprising ₹1457.22 crore under the wage component, ₹1607.68 crore
under the material component, and ₹17.62 crore under the administrative component. The
admissibility of this liability is subject to verification by the Central Government.
*****
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