Lok Sabha Question No. 250 (STARRED), answered on 2025-03-18
Subject: Payment of Insurance Claims under PMFBY
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Smt. Dhanorkar Pratibha Suresh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 250

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 18 TH  MARCH, 2025

## PAYMENT OF INSURANCE CLAIMS UNDER PMFBY

*250. SMT. DHANORKAR PRATIBHA SURESH:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी be pleased to state:

(a) whether the amount of insurance claims under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is not released on time to the beneficiaries;

- (b) if  so,  the  steps proposed by the Government to make timely payment of insurance claims; and
- (c) whether the Government proposes to assess the crop loss and settle insurance claims of the farmers within 30 days, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी (SHRI SHIVRAJ SINGH CHAUHAN)

(a) to (c)  :  A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO PART (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.  250  FOR  18 TH   MARCH,  2025  REGARDING PAYMENT OF INSURANCE  CLAIMS UNDER PMFBY.

(a) to (c) :  As per provisions of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), in case of area approach based/widespread calamity/season end claims, State Government has to furnish/upload the actual and threshold yield data within one month of the final harvest on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP).   Final Claims are to be worked out on NCIP and paid within 21 days from calculation of claims on NCIP.

Further, in case of localized calamities and post harvest losses where claims are worked out and paid on individual farm level, claims are to be disbursed within thirty days of the State's order / notification invoking the event.

All  the  major  work  like  selection  of  insurance  model,  selection  of  Insurance Companies through transparent bidding process, enrollment of farmers, assessment of crop  yield/crop  loss  for  calculation  of  admissible  claims  are  being  performed  by  the concerned  State  Government  or  Joint  Committee  of  State  Government  officials  and concerned insurance  company. The roles and  responsibilities  of  each  stakeholder  are defined  in  the  Operational  Guidelines  of  the  scheme  for  the  proper  execution  of  the scheme.

Majority  of  the  claims  are  settled    within  the  stipulated  timelines  under  the Operational Guidelines of the scheme by the insurance companies.    However, during the implementation  of  PMFBY,  some  complaints  were  received  in  the  past  about  nonpayment, delayed payment or under payment of claims on account of incorrect/delayed submission  of  insurance  proposals  by  banks;  discrepancy  in  yield  data  &  consequent disputes between State Government and insurance companies,  delay in providing State Government  share  of  funds,  non-deployment  of  sufficient  personnel  by  insurance companies etc.,  which were suitably addressed as per provisions of the scheme.

Government has taken various steps to strengthen implementation of this scheme, bring transparency and ensure timely settlement of claims :

-  Government has undertaken development of National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) as  a  single  source  of  data  ensuring  subsidy  payment,  co-ordination, transparency,  dissemination  of  information  and  delivery  of  services  including direct  online  enrollment  of  farmers,  uploading/obtaining  individual  insured famer's  details  for  better  monitoring  and  to  ensure  transfer  of  claim  amount electronically to the individual farmer's Bank Account.
-  In  order  to  rigorously  monitor  claim  disbursal  process,  a  dedicated  module namely 'Digiclaim Module' has been operationalized for payment of claims from Kharif 2022 onwards.  It involves integration of National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP)  with  Public  Finance  Management  System  (PFMS)  and  accounting system of Insurance Companies to provide timely & transparent processing of all claims  w.e.f.  Kharif  2024,  in  case  payment  is  not  made  timely  by  Insurance Company, penalty of 12% is auto-calculated and levied through NCIP.
-  Since the scheme is implemented by the State Government, therefore, in order to resolve the grievances/complaints including those related to claims of insured farmers,  provision  of  Stratified  Grievance  Redressal  Mechanism  viz.  District Level Grievance Redressal Committee (DGRC), State Level Grievance Redressal  Committee  (SGRC)  has  been  made  in  the  Revised  Operational Guidelines of the Scheme.    These committees have been given the detailed mandate as outlined in the Operational Guidelines for hearing the complaints/ grievances   and to dispose them as per the stipulated procedure.
-  To further improve the grievance redressal mechanism, Krishi Rakshak Portal and Helpline (KRPH) has been developed.  A single Pan-India toll free number 14447  has  been  deployed  and  linked  to  the  insurance  companies  database, where farmers  can  raise  their  grievances/issues.    Timelines  to  resolve  these grievances/issues has also been fixed.
-  Also, towards leveraging technology in implementation of the scheme, various steps like capturing of yield data/Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) data through CCE-Agri App &  uploading  it  on  the  NCIP,  allowing  insurance companies to witness the conduct of CCEs, integration of State land records with NCIP etc. have already been taken to improve timely settlement of the claims to farmers.

Following  technologies  for  Objective  Crop  Damage  &  Loss  Assessment  and transparency have also been implemented recently w.e.f. 2023-24 under the scheme:

- i. YES-TECH  (Yield  Estimation  System  Based  on  Technology) for  gradual migration to Remote-Sensing based yield estimation to help assess yields as well as fair and accurate Crop Yield Estimation . This initiative has been launched for paddy & wheat crops from Kharif 2023 wherein 30% weightage to yield estimation will mandatorily be assigned to YES-TECH derived yield. Soybean crop has been added from Kharif 2024 season.
- ii. WINDS  (Weather  Information  Network  and  Data  System) for  setting  up  of Network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) & Automatic Rain-Gauges (ARG) to the tune of 5 times of existing  network for collecting hyper-local weather data at GP & Block level.  This will be fed into a National unified network of AWS & ARG with  interoperability  &  sharing  of  data  in  coordination  with  India  Meteorological Department  (IMD).    WINDS  provides  data  not  only  for  YES-TECH  but  also  for effective drought & disaster management, accurate weather prediction and offering better parametric insurance products.

Department  is  regularly  monitoring  the  functioning  of  insurance  companies, including timely settlement of claims through weekly video conferences of all stakeholders, one to one meeting as well as National Review Conferences.

Based on the experience gained, views of various stakeholders and with a view to ensure better transparency, accountability, timely payment of claims to the farmers and to make  the  scheme  more  farmer  friendly,  Government  has  periodically  revised  the Operational Guidelines of the PMFBY comprehensively to ensure that the eligible benefits under the scheme reach the farmers timely and transparently.

*****