Lok Sabha Question No. 1467 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-09
Subject: Complaints of non-payment of PMFBY Claims
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shri K Radhakrishnan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1467

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 9 TH  DECEMBER, 2025

## COMPLAINTS OF NON-PAYMENT OF PMFBY CLAIMS

1467. SHRI K RADHAKRISHNAN:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण मंğी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether several  farmers  have  complained  of  non-payment  or  delayed  payment  of compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY);
- (b) if so, the total insurance claims pending during the last three years, State-wise;
- (c) the  reasons  for  the  delay  and  whether  private  insurance  companies  have  profited while farmers suffered losses; and
- (d) whether the Government proposes to reform the scheme to ensure timely settlement of claims?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण राÏय मंğी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a) to (c) :  As prescribed in the Operational Guidelines of  the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY),  majority of the claims are settled within the stipulated timelines i.e within 21 days of the receipt of requisite yield data from the concerned State Government,  by the insurance companies       However, during the implementation of PMFBY, some complaints 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  claims  calculated,  Claims  paid  and  pending  during  last  three years i.e. from 2022-23 to 2024-25 are given in Annexure.

Crop insurance is a major risk mitigation tool for the benefit of farmers in the event of non-preventable  natural calamities. It  may  be  noted  that  insurance  is  not  an  investment. Insurance is all about spreading the risk spatially & temporally. Insurers save premium in good seasons/years and pay high claims, if any, in bad years from the savings made in the good  years.  There  are  many  incidences  during  implementation  of  the  scheme  when insurance companies have paid claims in excess of 100% of premium received in case of natural calamities during different seasons.

(d) : Government has taken various steps to strengthen implementation of this scheme all over India to 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 NCIP with Public Finance Management System (PFMS) and accounting system of Insurance Companies to provide timely & transparent processing of all claims.
-  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.
-  As per the Operational Guidelines of PMFBY, in case payment is not made timely by Insurance Company, a penalty  of 12% is auto-calculated  and levied through National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) w.e.f. Kharif 2024.
-  Similarly, if  State  Government delayed its  premium subsidy from stipulated time period, a penalty of 12% is to be paid by them also.
-  Tranche based claims settlement has been initiated from 2025-26.
-  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 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.

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.

Further, 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.

Annexure

| PMFBY & RWBCIS: State Wise details of Claims Calculated, Paid and pending st   | PMFBY & RWBCIS: State Wise details of Claims Calculated, Paid and pending st   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| State/UT Name    | Claims Calculated   | Claims Paid    | Claims Pending   |
|------------------|---------------------|----------------|------------------|
|                  | (Rs. In Crore)      | (Rs. In Crore) | (Rs. In Crore)   |
| A & N Islands    | 0.05                | 0.02           | 0.03             |
| Andhra Pradesh   | 3,124.45            | 747.08         | 2,377.37         |
| Assam            | 169.08              | 161.29         | 7.79             |
| Chhattisgarh     | 1,394.07            | 1,389.47       | 4.60             |
| Goa              | 0.01                | 0.01           | 0.00             |
| Haryana          | 3,174.24            | 3,142.14       | 32.10            |
| Himachal Pradesh | 218.01              | 212.31         | 5.70             |
| Jammu & Kashmir  | 69.77               | 67.19          | 2.58             |
| Jharkhand        | 27.28               | -              | 27.28            |
| Karnataka        | 7,505.03            | 7,389.49       | 115.54           |
| Kerala           | 357.32              | 345.14         | 12.17            |
| Madhya Pradesh   | 3,340.77            | 3,301.05       | 39.72            |
| Maharashtra      | 20,599.49           | 20,373.07      | 226.42           |
| Manipur          | 5.45                | 5.28           | 0.17             |
| Meghalaya        | 24.23               | 23.97          | 0.25             |
| Odisha           | 974.29              | 963.79         | 10.50            |
| Puducherry       | 8.69                | 7.29           | 1.40             |
| Rajasthan        | 9,950.25            | 9,787.70       | 162.55           |
| Sikkim           | 0.02                | 0.01           | 0.01             |
| Tamil Nadu       | 2,417.43            | 2,359.28       | 58.14            |
| Tripura          | 4.57                | 4.46           | 0.11             |
| Uttar Pradesh    | 1,921.70            | 1,878.34       | 43.35            |
| Uttarakhand      | 865.67              | 711.37         | 154.30           |
| Total            | 56,151.88           | 52,869.78      | 3,282.10         |

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