Farm insurance scheme covers a third of agri households

MUMBAI:The Prime Minister’s farm insurance plan has covered nearly a third of the agricultural households within a year of being launched, as the government pushes for total coverage ahead of the elections in 2019, official data revealed.

The ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’ scheme, which is being implemented by Agriculture Insurance Corporation and 15 other insurance companies, was introduced from kharif 2016. As per official data, over 50.9 million farmers were covered under the scheme as on March 31, 2017. The industry had collected Rs 17,255 crore during 2015-16. The same year, about 9 million farmers filed claims and the industry paid out Rs 6,573 crore.

Agriculture Insurance Corporation was the largest insurer, covering over 23 million farmers, followed by United Insurance at 5.1million.


A Crisil report said 77 per cent of domestic crop insurance premiums were ceded to reinsurers in 2016-17. The premium income in the farm segment is expected to reach Rs 25,000 crore this fiscal year, from Rs 21,000 crore last year, making it the fastest growing insurance business in the country.