Loading…
A PIB Backgrounder issued on 29 August 2026 reports that from Kharif 2016 to Rabi 2025-26, more than 92.46 crore farmer applications have been insured under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and over 26.33 crore applications have received claims exceeding ₹2.06 lakh crore.
The Union Budget 2026-27 allocates ₹12,200 crore to PMFBY, which is being implemented by 25 States and Union Territories in Kharif 2026.
Farmers pay a maximum of 2% of the sum insured for kharif foodgrain and oilseed crops, 1.5% for rabi and 5% for commercial and horticultural crops; the balance premium is shared by the Centre and states 50:50, and 90:10 for North-Eastern and Himalayan States and UTs.
As of 27 August 2026, Kharif 2026 enrolment stands at 241.38 lakh farmers covering 278.12 lakh hectares, already above the Kharif 2025 figures of 229.77 lakh farmers and 269.38 lakh hectares.
West Bengal rejoined the scheme from Kharif 2026 and Bihar has decided to implement it from Rabi 2026-27, following Andhra Pradesh (Kharif 2022) and Jharkhand (Kharif 2024).
Provide affordable, comprehensive insurance against crop loss from natural calamities, adverse weather, pests and diseases, so that farmers can absorb income shocks, repay loans and invest in the next season.
Key: Launched on 18 February 2016; area-approach yield insurance for notified crops in notified insurance units, with individual-farm assessment for localised calamities and post-harvest losses. Premiums are capped at 1.5-5% of the sum insured and the rest is subsidised by the Centre and states.
Cover losses arising specifically from adverse weather, using weather parameters as a proxy for crop damage rather than measured yield loss.
Key: A weather index scheme operating on an area approach in Reference Unit Areas (RUAs). The crop's life cycle is split into phenological phases and the sum insured is allocated by the crop's vulnerability in each. Payouts trigger when deficit or excess rainfall, dry spells, extreme temperature, humidity or wind speed at notified weather stations cross pre-defined thresholds. It shares PMFBY's 1.5-5% premium rates and covered 25.95 lakh farmer applications over 12.31 lakh hectares in Kharif 2026.
Predecessor national crop insurance scheme that PMFBY replaced.
Key: Introduced from the rabi 1999-2000 season, replacing the Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme; it was the first to admit non-loanee farmers voluntarily.
India's first large national crop insurance programme, tied to short-term crop credit.
Key: Ran from Kharif 1985 to Kharif 1999 on a homogeneous area approach, with 15 states and 2 Union Territories participating, before being replaced by NAIS.
Short-term credit for crop production, and the route by which loanee farmers are enrolled in PMFBY.
Key: Introduced in August 1998 on the recommendation of the R.V. Gupta Committee, with the model scheme drawn up by NABARD. Loanee farmers with active, standard KCC-linked crop loans have their PMFBY premium deducted from the loan amount by the bank; farmers with no crop loan or with non-standard KCC loans enrol voluntarily as non-loanee farmers.
Single digital backbone for enrolment, subsidy administration, claim calculation and payment.
Key: Handles digital enrolment, land-record validation, eligible-claim calculation and electronic transfer of claims to farmers' bank accounts; digital land-record validation now covers about 85% of the insured area in ten participating states.
Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme runs on a homogeneous area approach, linked to short-term crop credit, in 15 states and 2 UTs.
Kisan Credit Card scheme introduced on the R.V. Gupta Committee's recommendation, with a model scheme prepared by NABARD.
National Agricultural Insurance Scheme replaces CCIS and admits non-loanee farmers for the first time.
Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd incorporated as a specialised public-sector crop insurer.
PMFBY launched, replacing NAIS and the Modified NAIS; implemented from Kharif 2016.
Tenant farmers and sharecroppers enrolled cumulatively cross 1.44 crore over the following years.
DigiClaim module introduced for transparent claim calculation and settlement; Andhra Pradesh rejoins PMFBY.
YES-TECH launched for paddy and wheat.
Krishi Rakshak Portal & Helpline (toll-free 14447) launched nationwide.
YES-TECH extended to soybean; Jharkhand rejoins the scheme.
Enrolment reaches an all-time high of over 15.23 crore farmer applications.
West Bengal rejoins; 25 States/UTs implement the scheme; enrolment as of 27 August 2026 already exceeds Kharif 2025.
Bihar to begin implementing PMFBY.
PMFBY's yield cover works on an 'area approach': the insurance unit is a notified area, not an individual field, and the claim depends on whether the Actual Yield for that unit — measured through Crop Cutting Experiments — falls short of a Threshold Yield. This keeps assessment costs manageable across crores of farms, but it means an individual farmer whose own crop failed may get nothing if the unit as a whole did well. Losses that are genuinely individual — hailstorm, landslide, inundation, cloudburst, natural fire, and post-harvest damage to cut-and-spread crops — are therefore assessed at the level of the individual farm. RWBCIS works differently again: it never measures yield at all. It pays when a measured weather variable at a notified station crosses a pre-set threshold, using weather as a proxy for damage. That makes payouts fast and dispute-free, but introduces basis risk — the weather station may not reflect what happened in a particular field.
Simple Analogy: The area approach is like a class result deciding everyone's grade; individual-farm assessment is a re-evaluation for a student whose own paper was damaged; weather index insurance never looks at the paper at all — it pays if the exam-day storm was severe enough.
| Aspect | PMFBY | RWBCIS |
|---|---|---|
| Basis of claim | Shortfall in actual measured yield against a threshold yield, assessed through Crop Cutting Experiments | Deviation of specified weather parameters from pre-defined thresholds, used as a proxy for crop damage |
| Unit of insurance | Notified insurance unit (area approach), with individual assessment for localised and post-harvest losses | Reference Unit Area (RUA) linked to a notified weather station |
| Perils covered | Drought, dry spells, floods, inundation, cyclone, hailstorm, lightning, pests and diseases, prevented sowing, mid-season adversity, post-harvest losses | Deficit or excess rainfall, dry spells, extreme temperature, humidity, wind speed; states may add farm-level cover for hailstorm and cloudburst |
| Typical crops | Foodgrains, oilseeds and annual commercial and horticultural crops | Especially popular for fruits, vegetables and plantation crops |
| Farmer premium | 2% kharif, 1.5% rabi foodgrains and oilseeds, 5% commercial and horticultural crops | Same 1.5% to 5% band depending on crop type |
| Sum insured allocation | Against the notified crop for the season | Split across the crop's phenological phases by vulnerability in each phase |
| Kharif 2026 scale | 241.38 lakh farmers over 278.12 lakh hectares (as of 27 August 2026) | 25.95 lakh farmer applications over 12.31 lakh hectares |
Specialised public-sector crop insurer, promoted by six public sector companies — General Insurance Corporation of India holds 35%, NABARD 30%, and National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance 8.75% each. Incorporated on 20 December 2002.
Prepared the model Kisan Credit Card scheme through which loanee farmers are enrolled, and holds a 30% promoter stake in AIC. Established on 12 July 1982 under the NABARD Act, 1981.
Routes PMFBY claim payments after DigiClaim computes them on the National Crop Insurance Portal, enabling full-cycle monitoring down to the individual farmer.
Dedicated toll-free grievance channel on 14447 for insured farmers, launched nationwide in January 2024; 26.12 lakh grievances resolved since, at a 99.66% resolution rate.
RWBCIS pays on weather readings rather than measured loss, so a farmer can suffer damage and receive nothing if the notified station's data stayed within thresholds — the standard critique of parametric insurance worldwide.
Loanee farmers enter PMFBY automatically through their Kisan Credit Card loans, tying insurance penetration to the reach of institutional agricultural credit.
YES-TECH and CROPIC put satellite imagery and geo-tagged photographs at the centre of a benefit-determination process, part of a wider shift towards technology-based verification in Indian welfare delivery.
PMFBY is voluntary for states, so participation, exit and re-entry are live examples of how a centrally sponsored scheme depends on state buy-in.
WINDS data supports disaster management and weather forecasting beyond insurance, linking crop insurance infrastructure to India's hazard-monitoring capability.
GS Paper 3 > Agriculture > Issues of Buffer Stocks, Farm Subsidies, Crop Insurance and Farmer Welfare Schemes
General Awareness > Government Schemes
General Awareness > Agriculture Finance, Insurance and Priority Sector Lending
General Awareness > Current Affairs and Schemes
With reference to 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana', consider the following statements: 1. Under this scheme, farmers will have to pay a uniform premium of two percent for any crop they cultivate in any season of the year. 2. This scheme covers post-harvest losses arising out of cyclones and unseasonal rains. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 2 only
PMFBY is a perennial UPSC, SSC and banking topic; its premium structure and technology modules appear in Parliament replies and PIB releases several times each year.
Claims are settled for a whole notified insurance unit based on its measured yield, not on each farm individually.
The benchmark yield for an insurance unit; a shortfall of Actual Yield below it triggers a claim under PMFBY.
Field sampling exercise used to establish the Actual Yield of an insurance unit; now digitised through the CCE-Agri App.
A farmer with an active, standard seasonal crop loan or KCC; the premium is deducted by the bank from the loan amount.
A farmer with no crop loan or a non-standard KCC-linked loan, who enrols voluntarily — about 50% of enrolments over the decade.
Cover for insured farmers who incurred expenditure but could not sow because of adverse weather; claims are capped at 25% of the sum insured.
A distinct growth stage of a crop; RWBCIS allocates the sum insured across these phases by the crop's vulnerability in each.
The notified area, linked to a weather station, that forms the unit of insurance under RWBCIS.