To claim under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), you first need to have been enrolled (with premium paid) before your state's cut-off date. After that, what you must do depends on how the crop was lost. For hailstorm, landslide, inundation, cloud burst or natural fire hitting your field, and for damage to cut crop drying in the field, you must report within 72 hours through the Crop Insurance app or the toll-free number 14447. For widespread losses such as drought, flood or a district-wide pest attack, you do not file anything yourself; the claim is worked out from the crop-cutting yield of your insurance unit.
This guide follows the PMFBY Operational Guidelines (Revamped, effective Kharif 2020) and the 2025 government announcement on wild-animal cover. Details such as cut-off dates, notified crops and add-on covers are decided by each state, so always check your own state's notification on pmfby.gov.in or at your block agriculture office. For premium rates and enrolment, see our PMFBY scheme page and which crops are covered.
First: which kind of loss is it?
PMFBY handles losses in four different ways, and the claim route is different for each. Most rejected or delayed claims come from treating a localised loss like a widespread one.
| Type of loss | Do you have to report? | How it is assessed |
|---|---|---|
| Localised calamity: hailstorm, landslide, inundation, cloud burst, natural fire (lightning) | Yes, within 72 hours of the event | Survey of your individual field by insurer, agriculture officer and you |
| Post-harvest loss: cut crop drying in the field, only up to 14 days after harvest, for hail, cyclone, cyclonic rain, unseasonal rain | Yes, within 72 hours | Individual field survey |
| Wild animal attack (new add-on from Kharif 2026 where the state notifies it): elephant, wild boar, nilgai, deer, monkey | Yes, within 72 hours, with geotagged photos on the app | Area-based or individual field assessment |
| Widespread calamity: drought, dry spell, flood, widespread pest or disease, storm, cyclone | No filing needed | Crop-cutting experiments (CCE) for your village or village-panchayat unit; you are paid if the unit's yield falls below the threshold yield |
| Prevented sowing, mid-season adversity (only if your state notified these add-ons) | No, the state or district invokes them | District committee surveys; an advance payment is made on account |
Step by step: reporting a localised or post-harvest loss
- Note the date and time of the event. The 72-hour clock starts from when it happened, not from when you noticed.
- Report immediately through the Crop Insurance app (first choice per the guidelines) or call 14447. You may also tell your bank branch, the insurance company's toll-free number, or the local agriculture office, but ask them for a written receipt or complaint number.
- Give the details the guidelines list: your name, the survey number and insured crop, area affected, your application number from the PMFBY portal, mobile number, and your KCC account number (loanee) or savings account (non-loanee).
- Upload geotagged photos of the damaged field from the app. Photograph the whole field and close-ups of damage, ideally with a landmark in frame.
- Keep the complaint ID. The insurer is expected to send a loss assessor; insurer claim pages say a surveyor is to be appointed within 48 hours of your intimation.
- Be present at the field survey with your land record and proof of enrolment. The loss is assessed jointly by the insurer's assessor, the block agriculture officer and you.
- Check the payout. Money goes to your bank account. For post-harvest loss the guidelines say the insurer pays within 15 days of the loss survey report, provided the government premium subsidy has reached the insurer.
How the payout is calculated
Widespread losses (yield-based). The formula in the guidelines is: (Threshold Yield minus Actual Yield) divided by Threshold Yield, multiplied by your Sum Insured. Threshold Yield is the average of the best five of the last seven years' yields in your unit, multiplied by the indemnity level (70%, 80% or 90%, set by the state). Illustrative example (made-up numbers): if the threshold yield of wheat in your village unit is 3,000 kg per hectare and the crop-cutting yield comes out at 2,400 kg, the shortfall is 600/3,000 = 20%. With a Sum Insured of ₹60,000 per hectare, the claim is 20% of that, ₹12,000 per hectare insured. Every insured farmer of that crop in the unit gets the same percentage.
Prevented sowing. Where notified, it applies only when more than 75% of the normal sown area of the unit could not be sown or transplanted because of deficit rain or similar conditions. The guidelines pay a fixed share of the Sum Insured (25% in the illustration) and ask the state to notify it within 30 days of normal sowing.
Mid-season adversity. Where notified, if the expected yield in the unit is likely to be below 50% of normal yield because of flood, prolonged dry spell or severe drought, an on-account advance of up to 25% of the likely claim is paid; it is adjusted against the final yield-based claim.
Documents to keep ready
- Enrolment proof: the application or receipt number from the PMFBY portal (or the bank or CSC receipt) and the premium debit entry.
- Aadhaar and the bank account linked to your application. The guidelines make Aadhaar compulsory, including for tenants and sharecroppers.
- Land record (Record of Rights or equivalent), or for tenant and sharecropper farmers, the lease or possession certificate that your state accepts.
- Geotagged photographs and the complaint number from your 72-hour intimation.
- Your KCC account number if you are a loanee farmer.
Why claims get rejected or delayed, and the fix
| Reason | Fix or prevention |
|---|---|
| Loss reported after 72 hours (localised or post-harvest) | Report the same day via the app or 14447. If late, still report and put the reason in writing; the decision rests with the insurer and district committee, so do not count on it. |
| Premium was not debited or received before the calamity | The guidelines state that a loan sanction alone, without premium debit, does not make you eligible. Ask the bank for a debit proof before the cut-off date. Loanee farmers should check passbook entries each season. |
| Crop or area is not notified, or crop sown differs from crop insured | Check the state notification for your village before paying. Declare the crop you actually sow; if you change, tell the bank before the premium debit cut-off. |
| Insured area larger than area sown or than land record | Insure only what you sow. The guidelines allow an Area Correction Factor and de-duplication using Aadhaar and land records when area is over-declared. |
| Aadhaar, name or account mismatch; wrong IFSC | Match names on Aadhaar, bank and land record at enrolment; keep the bank account Aadhaar-seeded. |
| Bank or CSC did not forward your data to the portal | Check your application status on pmfby.gov.in a week after enrolling. If missing, get it corrected before the cut-off, not after the loss. |
| Cause not covered (for example war, nuclear risk, malicious damage, other preventable risks) | These are excluded by the guidelines. Livestock damage is covered only where the state has notified the wild-animal add-on. |
If your claim is late or short
- The guidelines require insurers to release undisputed claims within 21 days of the actual yield data being uploaded, subject to the premium subsidy being received. Penal interest at 12% per year is payable on admissible claims pending beyond 30 days after the yield data is uploaded and subsidy is released, without acceptable reason.
- First complain to the insurer's grievance contact and the district agriculture office, and keep every complaint number.
- The scheme has a district, state and national grievance structure. If you doubt the crop-cutting yield of your unit, raise it with the district committee in writing with your enrolment proof.
Rabi 2026-27: what to do now
- Enrolment closes on dates set by each state. The indicative central cut-off for rabi is about 15 December, and many states notify 31 December or a date in between; not every state has published its 2026-27 notification yet, so check yours.
- Bihar has decided to return to PMFBY from Rabi 2026-27; a report quoting the cooperation minister says applications will run from 15 November 2026 to 15 January 2027.
- Farmer premium for rabi food grain and oilseed crops is capped at 1.5% of sum insured, and 5% for annual commercial and horticultural crops. A few states pay part or all of it themselves.
Sources
- PMFBY Operational Guidelines (Revamped, effective Kharif 2020), hosted copy
- SBI General Insurance: PMFBY claim process (14447, 72 hours, 48-hour surveyor)
- All India Radio: wild animal attacks and paddy inundation to be covered under PMFBY from Kharif 2026
- Amar Ujala: PMFBY to begin in Bihar from Rabi 2026
- PMFBY official portal (to check your state notification and application status)