Now, PM-Kisan payments only via Aadhaar-linked bank accounts

NEW DELHI: The fourth instalment of the PM-Kisan income support scheme due this month will be transferred only to Aadhar-authenticated bank accounts of the more than 50 million beneficiaries, officials said. This will be the first time since the launch of this scheme in February that the government insists on the mandatory condition of Aadhar seeding.

“From fourth instalment onwards, payment would be made only to farmers whose Aadhar numbers have been authenticated with their bank accounts,” an agriculture department official said. The department has authenticated more than 50 million bank accounts, the person said.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) Yojana, the central government provides income support of Rs 6,000 per year to all farmer families in the country, paid in instalments of Rs 2,000 every four months. The instalment for the December 2019 to March 2020 will be transferred to Aadhar-authenticated bank accounts at one go this month.


“The date and venue have not been decided yet,” the official said. “But we are prepared to disburse over Rs 10,000 crore to farmers in a one day. This may boost the sagging rural economy at a time when GDP growth has hit the bottom.”

This will be the largest disbursal in one day so far under PM-Kisan, launched on February 24 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed the first instalment of Rs 2,000 each for December 2018-March 2019 period to more than 10 million farmers.