New Delhi: The ministry for consumer affairs, food and public distributions has informed the parliament on Tuesday (December 10) that a total of 2,49,28,536 ration cards have been cancelled across the country in the last five years – from 2020 till October 2025 – with the highest numbers of cancellations in 2022.

Minister of state for consumer affairs, Nimuben Bambhaniya stated this in a written response to a question by P. Karti Chidambaram in Lok Sabha regarding how many ration cards are active and how many have been cancelled.

Noting that the operational responsibility for identification of beneficiaries and management of the beneficiary lists rests with the respective states and union territories, under the National Food Safety Act, Bambhaniya released a state-wise list for the last five years. 

Regarding active ration cards, she stated that a total of 20,29,52,938 are active as on December 10, 2025. The most have been issued in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar and Maharashtra, respectively.

“Key reasons reported by States/UTs for cancellation of ration cards include identification of duplicate or ineligible beneficiaries, e-KYC mismatches, deaths, and permanent migration of households. No ration cards have been reported to be cancelled solely due to failure to complete e-KYC or Aadhaar authentication,” she said in the written reply.

She added that "no specific report or complaints of wrongful cancellation" of ration cards has been received by the ministry.

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