Identifying 20 schemes with at least one component related to land restoration under the Union Budget 2023, it was found that allocations by ministries have stayed roughly the same or decreased for restoration-related schemes since 2016–17, with underspending being limited to particular schemes. There is a need to develop a coordinated strategy to meet India’s land-restoration goals to ensure effi cient utilisation of funds through synergy and convergence of funds of similar schemes, better estimation to prevent overspending and underspending, promoting science-backed spending on restoration, and developing sub-allocations to increase transparency on restoration activities.