Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

PM-KISAN is a central government scheme that gives every eligible landholding farmer family ₹6,000 a year as income support. The money is paid in three equal instalments of ₹2,000, directly into the farmer's bank account. The Centre pays the full cost, so it is a Central Sector Scheme. It is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Why does it exist?

Most Indian farmers have very small plots of land. Their income is low and uncertain, because it depends on rain, crop prices and pests. At sowing time, they need cash for seeds, fertiliser and labour, and many end up borrowing from moneylenders at high interest. PM-KISAN gives a small, assured amount of money at regular times of the year.

Think of it like a small "salary top-up" that helps a farmer buy inputs without running to a moneylender. It also gives the government a direct channel to send money to farmers without middlemen.

Where did it come from?

• Before PM-KISAN, some states had tried direct income support. Telangana's Rythu Bandhu (2018) paid farmers per acre of land owned. Odisha's KALIA scheme (2018-19) supported small farmers, tenant farmers and landless households.
• The Centre announced PM-KISAN in the Interim Budget on 1 February 2019. It applied with retrospective effect from 1 December 2018.
• It was formally launched on 24 February 2019 at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
• At first, only small and marginal farmers (owning up to 2 hectares) were covered. In June 2019, it was extended to all landholding farmer families, subject to some exclusions.
• In July 2026, the Union Cabinet approved continuing the scheme from 2026-27 to 2030-31 with an outlay of about ₹3.15 lakh crore.

How does it work, step by step?

1. A farmer registers through the state government, the PM-KISAN portal, the mobile app or a Common Service Centre.
2. The state government checks the land records and confirms that the family is eligible.
3. The farmer completes e-KYC (by OTP, biometrics or face authentication) and links Aadhaar with the bank account.
4. The Centre sends ₹2,000 per instalment straight to the bank account through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

The three instalment periods are April to July, August to November and December to March. So, roughly, one instalment comes every four months.

Who counts as a "family"?

For this scheme, a family means husband, wife and minor children. So the ₹6,000 is per family, not per person.

Who is excluded?

Better-off people are kept out even if they own farm land:

• Institutional landholders (land owned by trusts, companies, institutions)
• Families where any member is or was a holder of a constitutional post, a minister, an MP or MLA, a mayor or a district panchayat chairperson
• Serving or retired central or state government employees and PSU staff (except Multi-Tasking Staff, Class IV and Group D employees)
• Retired pensioners getting ₹10,000 or more a month (again, except MTS, Class IV and Group D)
• Anyone who paid income tax in the last assessment year
• Practising doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants and architects registered with professional bodies

Money and scale

The Union Budget 2026-27 set aside ₹60,000 crore for PM-KISAN. With about 9 to 10 crore families getting ₹6,000 each, the yearly cost is roughly ₹55,000 to ₹60,000 crore. This makes it one of the largest DBT schemes in the world.

Technology used

The scheme uses Aadhaar-based e-KYC, face-authentication through a mobile app, and checks with land records. It is also being linked with AgriStack, a digital database of farmers that gives each farmer a Farmer ID. An AI chatbot, Kisan e-Mitra, answers farmers' questions about the scheme in several languages.

India's position and examples

PM-KISAN is India's main direct income support tool for farmers. It sits alongside price-based support like Minimum Support Price (MSP) and input subsidies like the fertiliser subsidy. States can and do add their own top-ups; for example, some states pay extra amounts to the same farmers under their own schemes.

Commonly confused concepts

• PM-KISAN vs PM-KUSUM vs PM-KMY: PM-KISAN gives ₹6,000 a year in cash. PM-KUSUM helps farmers set up solar pumps and solar plants. PM Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY) is a voluntary pension scheme that pays ₹3,000 a month after age 60 to small farmers who contribute.
• Income support vs MSP: PM-KISAN gives cash whatever crop you grow. MSP is a guaranteed price for certain crops only when the government buys them.
• Central Sector Scheme vs Centrally Sponsored Scheme: PM-KISAN is Central Sector (100% central funding). A Centrally Sponsored Scheme, like PMAY-Gramin, shares costs with states.
• PM-KISAN vs Universal Basic Income (UBI): UBI would give money to all citizens with no conditions. PM-KISAN is targeted at landholding farmer families only.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• Tenant farmers and landless labourers left out: Payment depends on owning land in official records. Tenants who farm someone else's land, many women farmers and landless workers get nothing. Odisha's KALIA model is often cited as more inclusive.
• Small amount: ₹6,000 a year is about ₹500 a month. Critics say this is too little to change a farm family's income, especially as input costs rise. The amount has not been raised since 2019.
• Not linked to land size: A farmer with half a hectare and one with ten hectares get the same amount. Supporters say this makes it fairer to small farmers; others say it spreads money too thin.
• Wrong payments: Payments have gone to ineligible people, such as income tax payers, and the government has had to recover money. Mandatory e-KYC and land-record checks were brought in to fix this.
• Poor land records: In many states, land records are old or disputed, which delays or blocks payments.
• Way forward: Experts suggest updating digital land records, finding ways to include tenant farmers (for example, through tenancy records), linking with AgriStack, and reviewing the amount from time to time.

Concepts to Know

• Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): Sending government money straight into a beneficiary's bank account, instead of through officials or middlemen.
• e-KYC (electronic Know Your Customer): An online identity check, usually by Aadhaar OTP, fingerprint or face, to confirm that the person is real and is who they say they are.
• Small and marginal farmers: Marginal farmers own less than 1 hectare; small farmers own 1 to 2 hectares. A hectare is about the size of two football fields.
• Tenant farmer: A farmer who cultivates land owned by someone else and pays rent in cash or a share of the crop.
• Retrospective effect: When a rule or payment applies from a date in the past, before the day it was announced.
• AgriStack: A digital public database of farmers, their land and their crops, used to give each farmer a unique Farmer ID and deliver schemes faster.