The essentials
This brief tests the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, five years after its launch, against the Union Budget's own line for it. The Budget prints, year by year, what it provided for the line and what the line actually spent.
Less than half spent
The three closed years run from 2022-23 to 2024-25. In those years the Budget Estimates on the line added up to ₹11,576.84 crore, but actual spending added up to ₹5,120.47 crore. That is 44.2 per cent, and ₹6,456.37 crore of the money provided was not spent.
Source: Union Budget 2023-24, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2024-25, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2025-26, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2026-27, Statement 4A .
A cut in the last year of the approved period
2025-26 was the last year of the mission's approved period. The Budget Estimate on the line for that year was ₹4,200 crore, and the Revised Estimate cut it to ₹2,442.50 crore, which kept only 58.2 per cent of the provision.
Source: Union Budget 2026-27, Statement 4A .
Cut each year, and still underspent
The closed years run from 2022-23 to 2024-25, and in each of them the Revised Estimate was cut below the Budget Estimate. Actual spending was lower still, since in every year it fell short of even the reduced sum.
Source: Union Budget 2023-24, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2024-25, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2025-26, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2026-27, Statement 4A .
Parliament's committee
In its report presented on 18 March 2026, Parliament's Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare wrote: "The Committee is displeased to observe the persistent and drastic under-utilization of funds under the PM-ABHIM scheme".
Source: Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Health, Report No. 172, 18 March 2026 .
The promise made at Varanasi on 25 October 2021
The Prime Minister launched PM-ABHIM at Varanasi on 25 October 2021. In the English rendering of his speech, which his office published, he promised "More than 35,000 new beds" for "the treatment of critical illnesses in more than 600 districts".
In the same speech he set a time frame for the result: "The goal is to strengthen the critical healthcare network from village to block, district, regional and national levels in the country in the next four-five years."
Parliament's committee recorded in March 2026 that the mission was "to be implemented over five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26". That five-year period ended on 31 March 2026, nearly seven months before the fifth anniversary.
| What was promised | In the words of the source | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Critical care beds | "More than 35,000 new beds", for "the treatment of critical illnesses in more than 600 districts" | Launch speech, 25 October 2021 |
| Time frame | "in the next four-five years" | Launch speech, 25 October 2021 |
| Mission period | "to be implemented over five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26" | Committee Report No. 172, section 4.5.1 |
| Critical Care Blocks | "Establishment of 602 Critical Care Blocks in all the districts with population more than 5 lakhs" | Committee Report No. 172, section 4.5.2 |
Source: Prime Minister's launch speech, 25 October 2021 ; Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Health, Report No. 172, 18 March 2026 .
Provided and spent, year by year
Each year the Union Budget prints three figures for the line. The Budget Estimate is the sum provided when the year begins, and the Revised Estimate is that sum drawn up again near the year's end. The actual is the sum really spent, which the Budget prints two years later.
| Year | Budget Estimate | Revised Estimate | Actually spent, as the Budget prints it | Spent, per cent of the Budget Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | not printed | 585.00 | 584.04 | no Budget Estimate |
| 2022-23 | 4,176.84 | 1,885.45 | 1,228.35 | 29.4 |
| 2023-24 | 4,200.00 | 2,100.00 | 1,805.78 | 43.0 |
| 2024-25 | 3,200.00 | 3,000.00 | 2,086.34 | 65.2 |
| 2025-26 | 4,200.00 | 2,442.50 | printed in the Budget of 2027-28 | with the Budget of 2027-28 |
Source: Union Budget 2022-23, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2023-24, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2024-25, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2025-26, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2026-27, Statement 4A .
Three closed years together: less than half spent
This brief tests the three closed years from 2022-23 to 2024-25, because each of them had a full Budget Estimate and each has a printed actual. Across them the Budget Estimates on the line added up to ₹11,576.84 crore, while the money spent added up to ₹5,120.47 crore.
| Measure, 2022-23 to 2024-25 together | Figure |
|---|---|
| Budget Estimates, crore rupees | 11,576.84 |
| Revised Estimates, crore rupees | 6,985.45 |
| Actually spent, crore rupees | 5,120.47 |
| Not spent against the Budget Estimates, crore rupees | 6,456.37 |
| Spent, per cent of the Budget Estimates | 44.2 |
| Spent, per cent of the Revised Estimates | 73.3 |
Even against the Revised Estimates, which had already been cut, the line spent only 73.3 per cent over the three years. The committee described 2024-25 in the same way, when it found actual spending to be "just about 70% of the already reduced RE".
Source: Union Budget 2023-24, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2024-25, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2025-26, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2026-27, Statement 4A ; Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Health, Report No. 172, 18 March 2026 .
The last year, 2025-26: the provision cut by ₹1,757.50 crore
2025-26 was the last year of the mission's approved five-year period. The Budget provided ₹4,200 crore on the line, which matched the largest Budget Estimate the line had ever had. The Revised Estimate then cut the provision to ₹2,442.50 crore, so ₹1,757.50 crore was taken out in the last year of the approved period.
| 2025-26, the last year of the approved period | Figure |
|---|---|
| Budget Estimate, crore rupees | 4,200.00 |
| Revised Estimate, crore rupees | 2,442.50 |
| Cut between the two, crore rupees | 1,757.50 |
| Revised Estimate, per cent of the Budget Estimate | 58.2 |
| Revised Estimate of the year before, 2024-25, crore rupees | 3,000.00 |
The Union Budget of 2027-28 will print the line's actual for 2025-26. That figure will be read against the Budget Estimate of ₹4,200 crore that the Government set for the last year of the approved period.
Source: Union Budget 2025-26, Statement 4A ; Union Budget 2026-27, Statement 4A ; Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Health, Report No. 172, 18 March 2026 .
Terms, explained
- PM-ABHIM
- The Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, which the Prime Minister launched on 25 October 2021. Its aim, as Parliament's committee recorded it in March 2026, was "to fill critical gaps in health infrastructure, surveillance and health research", in both urban and rural areas.
- The centrally sponsored line
- The line for PM-ABHIM in Statement 4A of the Union Budget's Expenditure Profile. Statement 4A is the Budget's table of centrally sponsored schemes, which the States carry out with support from the Union Government, and it prints the Union Government's own money for each scheme, year by year.
- Budget Estimate
- The sum the Union Budget provides for a line when the financial year begins.
- Revised Estimate
- The same sum drawn up again near the end of the year, which shows what the Government then expected to need.
- Actual
- The sum really spent in the year, which the Budget prints two years later.
- Closed year
- A year whose actual spending the Budget has already printed. For this line the closed years with a full Budget Estimate are 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
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Sources & method
Every money figure in this brief comes from the Union Budget's own Statement 4A, which is the Budget's table of centrally sponsored schemes, and from the line it prints for the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PMABHIM).
Each year's Statement 4A prints the actual of two years back, the Budget and Revised Estimates of the year ending, and the Budget Estimate of the year coming. So each figure is taken from the Budget that prints it, and the five Budgets from 2022-23 to 2026-27 together give the line from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
The sums and shares are this brief's own arithmetic on the printed figures. Each share divides an actual by an estimate of the same line and the same year, and it is rounded once to one decimal.
The Prime Minister's words come from the English rendering of his launch speech that his office published. The committee's words come from its Report No. 172, which was presented on 18 March 2026.
- Union Budget 2022-23, Statement 4A .
- Union Budget 2023-24, Statement 4A .
- Union Budget 2024-25, Statement 4A .
- Union Budget 2025-26, Statement 4A .
- Union Budget 2026-27, Statement 4A .
- Prime Minister's launch speech, 25 October 2021 .
- Rajya Sabha Standing Committee on Health, Report No. 172, 18 March 2026 .