TL;DR India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) had 78.86 crore registered beneficiaries in 2026, up from 77.90 crore in 2022 but down from a 2023 peak of 79.96 crore, according to data from the Department of Food and Public Distribution. Coverage varies widely by state, from about 15.1% of the population in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to 69.4% in Odisha. Food subsidy released in 2025-26 stood at around ₹2.28 lakh crore, works out to roughly ₹2,888 per beneficiary, while a separate scheme for intra-state movement and FPS dealers’ margins released ₹5,447 crore, down from a 2023-24 peak of ₹8,704 crore. Ineligible ration card deletions totalled 41.41 lakh in 2025, with sharp state-level swings, Bihar’s deletions jumped from just 0.16 lakh in 2021 to 16.86 lakh in 2024 before falling back to 1.49 lakh in 2025.

Context

For millions of Indian households, the PDS is not just a government food-security scheme, but something of a lifeline. The scale of the system is enormous. The data used in this article covers beneficiaries registered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). This distinction is important because some States and Union Territories may also operate their own State-specific ration-card (PDS-like) schemes. Those State-level schemes are not included when describing the NFSA beneficiary figures in this article.

The NFSA framework covers eligible households through the PDS and provides the foundation for the Centre’s food-security support.

Who Compiles This Data?
The Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is responsible for administering the food distribution system. The data is from the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, based on Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 4082, answered on 12 August 2026.

Where can I download Clean & Structured Data on the Public Distribution System?

Clean, structured and ready-to-use datasets covering PDS beneficiaries, beneficiary share of population, food subsidy and deleted ineligible ration cards can be downloaded from Dataful.

Key Insights

PDS Beneficiaries Reached Nearly 80 Crore

The number of registered NFSA beneficiaries increased from 77.9 crore in 2022 to 79.96 crore in 2023, a growth of about 2.6% in one year. The number then declined gradually to 78.86 crore in 2026, about 1.4% below the 2023 peak. Changes in the beneficiary count could be because of new registrations, changes in household composition and deletion of ineligible cards. Exact reasons for such changes have not been provided.

PDS Coverage Varies Across States

The size of the PDS becomes clearer when beneficiaries are compared with the total population of each State and Union Territory. Odisha had the highest share at 69.4%, followed by Assam at 68.2%. Bihar and Jharkhand were both at around 64.9%, while Chhattisgarh and Manipur were also above 64%.

At the other end, the share was much lower in smaller Union Territories such as Andaman and Nicobar Islands at 15.1% and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu at 17.8%. This shows why absolute beneficiary numbers alone can be misleading. A large State may have more beneficiaries simply because it has a larger population.

Millions of Ineligible Ration Cards Were Deleted

The PDS database also undergoes periodic clean-up, with ineligible ration cards being deleted. The number of ineligible ration cards deleted fluctuated between 2021 and 2025. Deletions peaked at 63.80 lakh in 2022, more than twice the 29.03 lakh deleted in 2021, before falling to 41.41 lakh in 2025.

State-level figures show far sharper swings than the national trend. Bihar’s deletions rose from just 0.16 lakh in 2021 to 16.86 lakh in 2024, a jump of more than 100 times in three years, before falling back to 1.49 lakh in 2025. Haryana followed a similar pattern, climbing from 1.96 lakh in 2022 to 8.50 lakh in 2024, before easing to 1.34 lakh in 2025.

The dataset does not explain what drove these spikes- whether a particular verification drive or another administrative process- and a large jump in one year followed by a sharp fall the next suggests the timing of clean-up exercises can vary significantly by state.

Government Spending on PDS Runs Into Lakhs of Crores

The PDS involves substantial government spending, from subsidising foodgrains to supporting their movement and distribution through Fair Price Shops.

In 2025-26, food subsidy releases totalled about ₹2.28 lakh crore, including approximately ₹1.54 lakh crore through FCI and ₹73,919 crore through States and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). This was about 14% higher than the ₹1.99 lakh crore released in 2024-25 but remained below the ₹2.89 lakh crore recorded in 2021-22.

Separately, the government provides funds under the “Assistance to State Agencies for Intra-State Movement of Foodgrains and FPS Dealers’ Margin” scheme. These funds support the intra-state movement and handling of foodgrains, as well as margins for Fair Price Shop dealers. Nationally, releases peaked at around ₹8,704 crore in 2023-24, before falling to ₹5,447 crore in 2025-26, a decline of about 37%.

Uttar Pradesh shows a particularly large fluctuation. Funds released to the State under this scheme rose from ₹195.77 crore in 2021-22 to ₹3,213.86 crore in 2023-24, an increase of more than 16 times, before falling sharply to ₹683.67 crore in 2025-26. However, these figures represent releases under a specific scheme and do not necessarily indicate a corresponding rise or fall in overall PDS spending or food distribution in Uttar Pradesh.

Why Does It Matter? 

The data points to a PDS that is simultaneously undergoing scale adjustment, cleanup and continued financial support. The registered beneficiary base has declined since its 2023 peak, while millions of ineligible ration cards have been removed from the system, as per government data. However, the available data does not establish that these two trends are directly connected. A decline in registered beneficiaries can result from several reasons as mentioned earlier, while the deletion figures specifically refer to ineligible ration cards.

At the same time, the spending data shows that food security expenses involve more than subsidising foodgrains. Government support also extends to the movement and handling of foodgrains and the margins of Fair Price Shop dealers. The challenge is therefore twofold: keeping beneficiary databases accurately targeted while ensuring that eligible households can reliably access their entitlements.

Key Numbers (from 2022 to 2026)

• PDS Beneficiaries (in crore): 2022: 77.90 → 2026: 78.86

• Beneficiary Change: 2022 to 2023: +2.65% → 2023 to 2026: -1.38%

• Food Subsidy (₹ lakh crore): 2021-22: 2.89 → 2025-26: 2.28

• Funds Released for PDS Operations (₹ crore): 2021-22: 6,000 → 2025-26: 5,447

• Ration Cards Deleted (in lakh): 2021: 29.03 → 2025: 41.41