Improving the delivery of direct benefit transfers in India

Direct benefit transfers (DBTs) are currently being used in social protection programmes across India, with the aim of reducing leakage and inefficiencies in receipt of entitlements. Successive governments have stressed the importance of DBTs as the best way of ensuring benefits reach the right people, at the right time, and without leakage in the process.

In the past few years, several studies have mapped implementation of, and community experiences with, direct transfers. Shruti Viswanathan, a public governance and systems delivery expert, will speak on challenges and opportunities in the delivery of DBTs and highlight avenues for improvement. Hosted in the India International Centre, on Friday, 21 June, this seminar will explore the key challenges to state capacity in delivering DBT programmes, sharing vital lessons that can strengthen all programmes which use technology to improve service delivery.

The seminar, organised by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, will provide an opportunity for researchers and policymakers to engage with the operational experiences of the use of technology in social protection programmes. Engaging with these results is important to design and deliver impactful programmes, and improve their efficiencies through the use of technology.

In her presentation, Shruti will build on OPM India’s previous work on cash transfers, including the Bihar Child Support Programme and the evaluation of the Pradhan Mantri Matrutva Yojana. Find more of Shruti’s writing on cash transfers here and here.

Further details about this seminar are available here. Please note you have to register for this seminar here.