Lok Sabha Question No. 339 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-02
Subject: Performance of PMFBY in Kerala
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Dr. Shashi Tharoor

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 339

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 02 ND  DECEMBER, 2025

## PERFORMANCE OF PMFBY IN KERALA

339. DR. SHASHI THAROOR:

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

- (a)  the  total  number  of  farmers  enrolled  under  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal Bima  Yojana (PMFBY) in Kerala during the last three financial years and the total area insured under the scheme in the State;
- (b) the total amount of claims paid to farmers in Kerala under PMFBY during the same period, and the number of claims pending settlement as of the latest available data;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  assessment  of  the  implementation  of PMFBY in Kerala, including evaluation of crop loss estimation methods, premium payment timelines, grievance redressal mechanisms and farmer awareness levels and if so, the details of the findings thereof; and
- (d)  whether  any  steps  are  being  taken  to  address  challenges  such  as  delayed  claim settlement, limited insurer participation, low coverage among small and marginal farmers and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) : Details of total number of farmers enrolled, area insured, claims paid and claims pending during last three years i.e. from 2022-23 to 2024-25 in Kerala under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) are given below :

| Year    | Farmer Applications Insured (In No.)   | Area Insured (In Lakh Ha)   | Claims Paid    | Claims Pending   |
|---------|----------------------------------------|-----------------------------|----------------|------------------|
|         |                                        |                             | (Rs. In Crore) | (Rs. In Crore)   |
| 2022-23 | 1,46,546                               | 0.69                        | 180.33         | 2.64             |
| 2023-24 | 1,74,102                               | 0.73                        | 164.81         | 9.53             |
| 2024-25 | 2,19,648                               | 0.80                        | -              | -                |
| Total   | 5,40,296                               | 2.22                        | 345.14         | 12.17            |

(c)  & (d) :   Department is regularly monitoring the functioning of the scheme, 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.

Government has taken various steps to strengthen implementation of this scheme all over India including Kerala State 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.

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