{"id":14210,"date":"2026-05-27T07:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/glossary\/pm-cares-fund\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T07:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:39:20","slug":"pm-cares-fund","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/glossary\/pm-cares-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"PM Cares Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

PM CARES Fund<\/a> (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund) is a public charitable trust established on March 27, 2020 to deal with emergencies or distress situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a dedicated national fund for emergency relief purposes.<\/p>\n

What Is the PM CARES Fund?<\/h2>\n

PM CARES Fund was created to receive micro-donations from citizens, CSR contributions from companies, and voluntary contributions from PSU employees during the COVID-19 crisis. It provides a dedicated funding mechanism for emergency relief and is separate from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).<\/p>\n

The fund is chaired by the Prime Minister and its trustees include the Defence Minister, Home Minister, and Finance Minister.<\/p>\n

Key Features<\/h2>\n

– **Purpose**: emergency relief and rehabilitation for any kind of public health, natural, or man-made disaster
\n– **Donations**: accepted from individuals and organisations, including foreign donations under FCRA
\n– **Tax<\/a> benefit**: donations qualify for 100% deduction under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act<\/a>
\n– **CSR eligibility**: contributions count as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending under the Companies Act<\/p>\n

Use of Funds<\/h2>\n

PM CARES Fund has been used for:
\n– Procurement of ventilators, PPE kits, testing equipment during COVID-19
\n– Supporting vaccine development and procurement
\n– Migrant worker relief during the pandemic
\n– Health infrastructure strengthening
\n– State disaster relief assistance<\/p>\n

Transparency Concerns<\/h2>\n

PM CARES Fund has faced scrutiny regarding transparency. Unlike the PMNRF (which is subject to CAG audit), PM CARES has a different governance structure and is audited by an independent auditor rather than the CAG. The government has maintained this is appropriate for a public charitable trust.<\/p>\n

PM CARES vs PMNRF<\/h2>\n

| Feature | PM CARES | PMNRF |
\n|———|———|——-|
\n| Established | 2020 | 1948 |
\n| Audit | Independent auditor | CAG (National Audit) |
\n| Primary focus | Emergency situations | Broad relief |
\n| Foreign donations | Allowed | Allowed |<\/p>\n

Practical Example<\/h2>\n

During the second wave of COVID-19 in April-May 2021, PM CARES Fund allocated Rs 201 crore for procurement of 1 lakh portable oxygen concentrators to address the acute shortage of medical oxygen across hospitals in India.<\/p>\n

Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n

– PM CARES Fund is a public charitable trust for emergency relief situations, established in March 2020
\n– Donations qualify for 100% deduction under Section 80G and count as CSR spending
\n– Used primarily for COVID-19 relief including medical equipment, vaccine procurement, and migrant support
\n– Governed by a trust with the Prime Minister as chairman and senior cabinet ministers as trustees
\n– Questions about its transparency and CAG audit exclusion have been subjects of public debate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PM CARES Fund (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund) is a public charitable trust established on March 27, 2020 to deal with emergencies or distress situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a dedicated national fund for emergency relief purposes. What Is the PM CARES Fund? PM CARES Fund was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14210","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"web-stories-poster-portrait":false,"web-stories-publisher-logo":false,"web-stories-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Team Lemonn","author_link":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/author\/ashu\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"PM CARES Fund (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund) is a public charitable trust established on March 27, 2020 to deal with emergencies or distress situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a dedicated national fund for emergency relief purposes. What Is the PM CARES Fund? PM CARES Fund was…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/14210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/14210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemonn.co.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}