States/UTs delete 2.49 cr ration cards since 2020: Centre in RS

New Delhi: States and Union Territories have deleted 2.49 crore ration cards since 2020 due to various reasons, including ineligible beneficiaries, the Central government said on Tuesday.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, informed that there are currently 20,29,52,938 ration cards in the country.

Food grains for free to around 80 cr people: Centre

The Centre provides free foodgrains to around 80 crore people through ration shops under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

“As result of digitization efforts, States/UTs have been able to weed-out approx. 2.49 crore ration cards between 2020 to 2025 (till date) in order to achieve rightful targeting,” she said.

“Key reasons for the cancellation of ration cards are due to identification of duplicates, ineligible beneficiaries, eKYC mismatch, deaths, permanent migration of beneficiaries etc,” the minister explained.

Bambhaniya also informed that the government has not received any specific report or complaints of wrongful cancellation of the ration card.

Data on ration card deletions

As per the data, there were 24,19,451 ration cards deleted in 2020; 29,02,794 ration cards in 2021; 63,80,274 ration cards in 2022; 41,99,373 cards in 2023; 48,85,259 cards in 2024 and 41,41,385 ration cards so far in 2025.

The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) provides for coverage of up to 75 per cent of the rural population and up to 50 per cent of the urban population, thus covering about two-thirds of the total population of the country. As per the Census 2011, the total number of beneficiaries comes to 81.35 crore.

At present, against the intended coverage of 81.35 crore, the States/UTs have identified only 80.56 crore people.

Still, there is a scope of identification of 0.79 crore more beneficiaries under the NFSA, also known as the food law.