Lok Sabha Question No. 447 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-02
Subject: Discrepancies in Settlement of Claims of PMFBY
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Smt. Hema Malini

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 447

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 02 ND  DECEMBER, 2025

## DISCREPANCIES IN SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS OF PMFBY

447. SMT. HEMA MALINI:

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

(a) whether the Government is aware of the problems and complaints of farmers regarding discrepancies in settlement of claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY);

(b)  whether any special measures are being taken by the Government to alleviate the problems of farmers and resolve their complaints regarding insurance claims; and

(c)  the  special  steps  taken  to  ensure  that  farmers  receive  claims  under  the  PMFBY promptly  and  simultaneously  and  that  damage  assessment  is  done  in  an  accurate manner?

## ANSWER

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

(a) :  Under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), 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  and  uploading  of Threshold Yield & Actual Yield on National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) for calculation and payment of admissible claims directly to the farmer's account are being performed by the concerned State Government or Joint Committee of State Government officials and insurance  company concerned.  The  roles  and  responsibilities  of  each  stakeholder  are defined  in  the  Operational  Guidelines  of  the  scheme  for  the  proper  execution  of  the scheme.

Further, 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 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.

O.I.H .

- (b) & (c) : 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.
-  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.

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.

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