Srinagar, Mar 17: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday announced that insurance companies had disbursed ₹131.68 crore to farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from 2017-18 to 2023-24, excluding the years 2019-20 and 2020-21.
In response to an un-starred question by M.Y. Tarigami, MLA Kulgam, in the Assembly, the Minister in charge of the Agriculture Production Department shared details of the scheme’s im-plementation. The government engaged three insurance companies for the scheme’s rollout in 2017-18—Reliance General Insurance, ICICI Lombard, and Oriental Insurance. For the year 2024-25, Reliance General, IFFCO-Tokio, and AIC of India have been roped in to continue the scheme.
In 2017-18, Reliance Insurance settled 10,232 claims, disbursing ₹2.66 crore, ICICI Lombard settled 8,513 claims worth ₹3.28 crore, and Oriental Insurance settled 8,036 claims, distributing ₹4.07 crore to farmers. Similarly, in 2018-19, the three companies collectively disbursed ₹27.54 crore. In 2021-22, Reliance General and IFFCO-Tokio paid ₹56.03 crore, while in 2022-23, they disbursed ₹6.44 crore.
For 2023-24, the same three companies—Reliance General, IFFCO-Tokio, and AIC of India—settled a total of 64,964 claims, disbursing ₹31.66 crore: ₹20.42 crore by Reliance, ₹6.99 crore by IFFCO-Tokio, and ₹4.25 crore by AIC of India.
The government also highlighted that the scheme, which began in 2017-18, initially covered 10 districts of Jammu Division, benefitting 1.58 lakh farmers. By 2024-25, the coverage will expand to 20 districts, excluding four districts during the Rabi season, with 2.08 lakh farmers covered under the scheme.
Regarding crop-wise coverage, the government noted that in 2017-18, farmers growing paddy (39,101), maize (49,745), and wheat (70,125) were insured under PMFBY. By 2024-25, the scope of coverage had expanded, with 69,549 farmers covered for paddy, 78,811 for maize, 37,070 for wheat, and 23,108 for oilseeds.
The PMFBY scheme was first implemented in Jammu and Kashmir during the Kharif season of 2017.
