Lok Sabha Question No. 232 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-22
Subject: Timely Settlement of PMFBY Claims
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Rahul Kaswan

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 232

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 22 ND  JULY, 2025

## PENDING CLAIMS OF PMFBY

## 232.   SHRI RAHUL KASWAN

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

- (a) whether it is a fact that Kharif-2024 crop insurance claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) remain pending in several States, including Rajasthan, due to delayed State premium subsidy releases, if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  the  current  status  of  pending  claims  and  average  claim  settlement  time  in Rajasthan,including Churu, Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Shri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh;
- (c)  whether  any  grievances  have  been  raised  by  Rajasthan  farmers,  especially  from remote  districts,  regarding  claim  denials  due  to  satellite-only  assessments,  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (d)  the  measures  taken/being  taken  to  mandate  timely  release  of  State  subsidy  and ground-level crop damage;

(e) whether the Cabinet-approved technological funding (Rs. 824.77 crore) will be utilised to expedite claim settlements; and

- (f) if so, the details of projected implementation plan and expected resolution timeline?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण राǛ मंũी (SHRI  RAMNATH THAKUR)

- (a) to  (d)  :    The  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal  Bima  Yojna  (PMFBY)  was  introduced  in  the country from Kharif 2016 season.   The scheme is voluntary for the States and farmers.

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 i.e within 21 days of the receipt requisite yield data from the concerned State Government,  by the insurance companies.    However, during the  implementation  of  PMFBY,  some  complaints/grievances  were  received  in  the  past about payment of claims which are primarily on account of (a) delay in providing State

Government share of subsidy  (b) non-payment/delayed payment or under payment of  claims  on  account  of  incorrect/delayed  submission  of  insurance  proposals  by banks  (c) discrepancy  in yield  data  &  consequent  disputes  between  State Government and insurance companies etc. The pending claims on account of these issue are settled after their resolution as per provisions of the scheme.

State-wise  details  of  Kharif  2024  pending  claims  on  account  of  pending  State subsidy under PMFBY are given in Annexure-I .   Details of pending claims for Rajasthan, district-wise  during  2018-19  to  2024-25,  as  on  30.06.2025  under  PMFBY  are  given  in Annexure-II.

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.
-  Delinking of Central Government share of premium subsidy from that of State Governments has been implemented so that farmers can get proportionate claims relating to the Central Government share.
-  Opening of ESCROW Account by the State Government concerned for deposit of  their  premium  share in advance as per provisions of the scheme has been made mandatory w.e.f. Kharif 2025 season.
-  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.
-  Provision of 12% penalty on delay in payment of claims by insurance company is auto calculated on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP).

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 database 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.

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.

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.

The review/revisions / rationalization / improvements in the crop insurance schemes is a continuous process and decision on suggestion/ representations/ recommendations of the stakeholders/studies are taken from time to time.   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.

(e) & (f) : The Union Cabinet in its meeting held on 1st January  2025 has inter-alia approved the proposal for creation of FIAT with an allocation of Rs. 824.77 Cr.  For funding of the following activities :

- i. Technological innovations viz. YESTECH, WINDS and CROPIC.
- ii. To finance and subsidise technology (like drones, IoT, Remote Sensing etc.);
- iii. To  finance  innovation  and  development  of  new  insurance  and  risk  protection solutions under the product Sandbox approach;
- iv. Facilitating building and capturing of trustful data of farmers and crops for efficient & transparent implementation of PMFBY ; and
- v. For giving grants to Academic, Research and Development institutions for carrying out  research,  design  and  development  initiatives,  risk  protection  products  and technology solutions for crop damage and yield loss estimation, crop identification & digitization etc.

Annexure-I

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| PMFBY & RWBCIS: State Wise details of Claims Pending on account of pending State Subsidy for Kharif 2024 season as on 30 th June, 2025   | PMFBY & RWBCIS: State Wise details of Claims Pending on account of pending State Subsidy for Kharif 2024 season as on 30 th June, 2025   |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| State/UT                                                                                                                                 | Pending Claims (Rs. in Crore)                                                                                                            |
| A & N Islands                                                                                                                            | 0.00                                                                                                                                     |
| Andhra Pradesh                                                                                                                           | 224.9                                                                                                                                    |
| Assam                                                                                                                                    | 1.6                                                                                                                                      |
| Chhattisgarh                                                                                                                             | 3.5                                                                                                                                      |
| Goa                                                                                                                                      | 0.00                                                                                                                                     |
| Haryana                                                                                                                                  | 20.3                                                                                                                                     |
| Himachal Pradesh                                                                                                                         | 6.4                                                                                                                                      |
| Jammu & Kashmir                                                                                                                          | 0.2                                                                                                                                      |
| Jharkhand                                                                                                                                | 20.6                                                                                                                                     |
| Karnataka                                                                                                                                | 0                                                                                                                                        |
| Kerala                                                                                                                                   | 0                                                                                                                                        |
| Madhya Pradesh                                                                                                                           | 1,101.1                                                                                                                                  |
| Maharashtra                                                                                                                              | 148.6                                                                                                                                    |
| Manipur                                                                                                                                  | 0                                                                                                                                        |
| Meghalaya                                                                                                                                | 0.01                                                                                                                                     |
| Odisha                                                                                                                                   | 5.9                                                                                                                                      |
| Puducherry                                                                                                                               | 1.5                                                                                                                                      |
| Rajasthan                                                                                                                                | 701.8                                                                                                                                    |
| Sikkim                                                                                                                                   | 0                                                                                                                                        |
| Tamil Nadu                                                                                                                               | 0.8                                                                                                                                      |
| Tripura                                                                                                                                  | 0.00                                                                                                                                     |
| Uttar Pradesh                                                                                                                            | 8.00                                                                                                                                     |
| Uttarakhand                                                                                                                              | 0.01                                                                                                                                     |
| Total                                                                                                                                    | 2245                                                                                                                                     |

PMFBY & RWBCIS: District Wise details of Pending Claims in Rajasthan from 2018-19 to 2024-25 as on 30 th  June  2025 (Due to all reasons including on account of pending State subsidy)

| District (Rajasthan)   |          |
|------------------------|----------|
| Ajmer                  | 121.21   |
| Alwar                  | 7.30     |
| Banswara               | 1.66     |
| Baran                  | 2.29     |
| Barmer                 | 18.75    |
| Bharatpur              | 13.57    |
| Bhilwara               | 36.58    |
| Bikaner                | 31.97    |
| Bundi                  | 12.26    |
| Chittorgarh            | 13.35    |
| Churu                  | 21.06    |
| Dausa                  | 4.15     |
| Dholpur                | 1.02     |
| Dungarpur              | 0.89     |
| Hanumangarh            | 44.31    |
| Jaipur                 | 121.84   |
| Jaisalmer              | 43.14    |
| Jalore                 | 34.08    |
| Jhalawar               | 15.87    |
| Jhunjhunu              | 18.55    |
| Jodhpur                | 146.05   |
| Karauli                | 0.82     |
| Kota                   | 16.11    |
| Nagaur                 | 146.87   |
| Pali                   | 47.18    |
| Pratapgarh             | 8.93     |
| Rajsamand              | 0.74     |
| Sawai Madhopur         | 24.68    |
| Sikar                  | 29.48    |
| Sirohi                 | 6.68     |
| Sri Ganganagar         | 60.83    |
| Tonk                   | 70.24    |
| Udaipur                | 1.32     |
| Total                  | 1,123.76 |

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