Asked in the Lok Sabha for the MGNREGS wage payments pending in every state, the Ministry of Rural Development gave a table of pending wage liabilities as on 26 November 2025, from NREGASoft, the scheme’s own system. Its printed total is Rs 1,687.27 crore.
The rows add up to Rs 3,144.49 crore. The printed total is exactly the sum of every row except one: West Bengal’s Rs 1,457.22 crore. The table lists it, with an asterisk, and leaves it out of the total without saying so on the total line.
Teal: West Bengal (as on 8 March 2022). Grey: every other state and UT. Source: Ministry of Rural Development, answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 459, 2 December 2025, Annexure-I.
Pending since March 2022
The asterisk’s note explains the figure. The ministry stopped releasing funds to West Bengal from 9 March 2022 under Section 27 of the Act, “owing to continued non-compliance with the directives of the Central Government by the State.” The Rs 1,457.22 crore is the wage liability recorded on NREGASoft as on 8 March 2022, the day before, and “the admissibility of this liability is subject to verification by the Central Government.”
In February 2026 the ministry gave the whole of it: Rs 3,082.52 crore, of which Rs 1,457.22 crore wages, Rs 1,607.68 crore material and Rs 17.62 crore administrative, still “subject to verification.” In July 2026, asked whether any of the money pending for three years had been released, it said no fund was released to the state in the last three financial years. Neither answer says when the verification will end, or what it has found so far.
In August 2026 the ministry told Parliament that “all due and admissible pending wage liabilities upto FY 2025-26 have already been cleared.” That and the West Bengal answers can both be true at once: a liability whose admissibility is still being verified is not yet admissible.
The scheme in West Bengal since then
After a Calcutta High Court order of 18 June 2025, the ministry issued orders on 6 December 2025 for MGNREGS to resume in the state subject to special conditions. It resumed from 1 June 2026, with Rs 346.58 crore sanctioned for June. From 1 July 2026 the scheme was replaced across India by the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025; West Bengal’s interim allocation under it is Rs 8,508 crore for 2026-27, and Rs 1,264.50 crore was sanctioned as the first instalment. Both are for work from June 2026 onward; none of the answers ties them to the liability from 2022.
Everywhere else
The other states and union territories had Rs 1,687.27 crore of wages pending on 26 November 2025, most of it in Rajasthan (Rs 627.33 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs 381.02 crore), Kerala (Rs 248.42 crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 111.54 crore). The ministry says these are reimbursed at the start of the next financial year, and by August 2026 that all admissible wage liabilities up to 2025-26 had been cleared. For Kerala it said there were no pending wage liabilities, though Rs 348.93 crore was pending for materials on 19 July 2026.
The delay the answer does not measure
The question also asked for the average delay in wage payments, state by state. The answer gives something narrower: the share of fund transfer orders each state generated within eight days of a muster roll closing. That is the state’s step. The time from the order to the money reaching a worker’s account, and the compensation paid for late wages, are not in it.
On that measure, India was at 94.65% in 2024-25. The lowest were Lakshadweep (0.00%), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (4.01%), Manipur (14.34%) and Goa (37.62%). The share fell between 2022-23 and 2024-25 in 6 states and union territories, Maharashtra among them, from 77.08% to 66.56%.
Got it right
The share of fund transfer orders generated on time rose nationally from 85.91% in 2022-23 to 94.65% in 2024-25; Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were above 99.9%. Wages are credited directly to workers’ bank accounts. And the answer carries its own footnote on West Bengal’s figure, so the gap can be traced from the answer alone.
Every state and union territory
| State / UT | Pending wages, Rs crore | FTOs on time, 2022-23 | FTOs on time, 2023-24 | FTOs on time, 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Bengal (as on 8 March 2022) | 1,457.22 | – | – | – |
| Rajasthan | 627.33 | 79.12% | 96.44% | 98.85% |
| Andhra Pradesh | 381.02 | 93.25% | 99.92% | 99.99% |
| Kerala | 248.42 | 86.17% | 97.79% | 97.45% |
| Tamil Nadu | 111.54 | 97.88% | 99.94% | 99.98% |
| Mizoram | 91.43 | 85.66% | 87.06% | 96.34% |
| Madhya Pradesh | 64.14 | 96.26% | 99.05% | 99.11% |
| Gujarat | 46.98 | 89.84% | 98.03% | 99.22% |
| Puducherry | 16.99 | 62.44% | 38.25% | 45.69% |
| Himachal Pradesh | 15.18 | 83.25% | 94.64% | 97.38% |
| Maharashtra | 14.32 | 77.08% | 77.03% | 66.56% |
| Odisha | 11.76 | 99.34% | 97.31% | 98.73% |
| Karnataka | 8.94 | 95.13% | 96.42% | 96.77% |
| Bihar | 7.04 | 89.61% | 93.79% | 92.79% |
| Uttar Pradesh | 5.98 | 79.72% | 91.35% | 95.76% |
| Jharkhand | 5.83 | 99.82% | 99.97% | 99.91% |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 5.48 | 70.05% | 77.56% | 82.29% |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 4.70 | 58.86% | 63.06% | 72.50% |
| Manipur | 4.59 | 9.26% | 9.03% | 14.34% |
| Meghalaya | 4.13 | 58.15% | 61.35% | 71.18% |
| Chhattisgarh | 3.78 | 66.28% | 99.40% | 97.62% |
| Tripura | 2.93 | 94.09% | 98.41% | 97.43% |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | 1.29 | 0.00% | 57.04% | 55.86% |
| Telangana | 0.98 | 46.97% | 96.00% | 99.23% |
| Nagaland | 0.79 | 18.09% | 41.22% | 52.90% |
| Ladakh | 0.46 | 52.28% | 48.67% | 63.50% |
| Uttarakhand | 0.41 | 99.17% | 99.85% | 99.96% |
| Haryana | 0.38 | 74.63% | 63.58% | 81.85% |
| Assam | 0.23 | 93.04% | 94.25% | 97.45% |
| Punjab | 0.12 | 69.77% | 83.34% | 82.85% |
| Sikkim | 0.10 | 83.03% | 87.53% | 91.62% |
| Goa | 0.00 | 53.00% | 32.68% | 37.62% |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 0.00 | 7.82% | 38.30% | 4.01% |
| Lakshadweep | 0.00 | 56.62% | 49.41% | 0.00% |
| Printed total | 1,687.27 | 85.91% | 95.14% | 94.65% |
| Sum of the rows | 3,144.49 |
The answer gives no FTO figures for West Bengal. Lakshadweep’s 0% in 2024-25 is as printed.
How we did this
- Source: the Ministry of Rural Development’s answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 459, answered on 2 December 2025, Annexures I and II (NREGASoft).
- West Bengal: Unstarred Question 525 (3 February 2026) and Unstarred Question 1542 (28 July 2026). Clearing of liabilities: Unstarred Question 3880 (11 August 2026) and Unstarred Question 1429 (28 July 2026).
- Adds up: the 34 rows sum to Rs 3,144.49 crore. Without West Bengal they sum to Rs 1,687.27 crore, the printed total, to the paisa.
- Download the data: mgnregs-pending-wages-2025-11-26.csv. Our method and labels are on the Data Audit method page.
Questions
What is a pending wage liability?
The ministry's term for MGNREGS wages due and not yet paid, as recorded on NREGASoft. Wages are credited by the Central Government directly to workers' accounts, and at the start of each financial year admissible pending liabilities of the previous year are reimbursed, the ministry told Parliament.
Why were MGNREGS funds to West Bengal stopped?
The ministry says it stopped the release of funds from 9 March 2022 by invoking Section 27 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, 'owing to continued non-compliance with the directives of the Central Government by the State'.
Has the scheme resumed in West Bengal?
Yes. After a Calcutta High Court order of 18 June 2025, the ministry issued orders on 6 December 2025 for resumption subject to special conditions. Implementation resumed from 1 June 2026, with a sanction of Rs 346.58 crore for June 2026. From 1 July 2026 the scheme was replaced nationally by the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025, under which West Bengal has an interim allocation of Rs 8,508 crore for 2026-27.
What does the law say about late wages?
Workers are entitled to wages within 15 days of the work. If wages are not paid in time, Schedule II of the Act provides compensation at 0.05% of the unpaid wages per day from the sixteenth day after the muster roll closes, the ministry told Parliament.
Where does the data come from?
From the Ministry of Rural Development's answers to the Lok Sabha: Unstarred Question 459 (2 December 2025), Unstarred Question 525 (3 February 2026), Unstarred Question 1542 and Unstarred Question 1429 (28 July 2026) and Unstarred Question 3880 (11 August 2026).
Corrections
No corrections so far. If any figure here is wrong, send the correcting document to editor@oquilia.com and we will correct it and record the change on this page.