Can an NRI Receive PM Kisan?
PM Kisan Samman Nidhi pays ₹6,000 a year to eligible landholding farmer families. The scheme is meant for cultivating farmers who are resident in India, and the exclusion list specifically rules out higher-income and non-farming categories. An NRI who owns (typically inherited) land but does not cultivate it as a resident is generally not eligible to draw PM Kisan in their own name.
What About the Family That Actually Farms the Land?
If resident family members are the cultivating farmers and the land records reflect a legitimate holding, those resident members may be eligible in their own right, subject to the scheme's standard conditions and exclusions (income-tax payers, professionals, pensioners above a threshold and constitutional post holders are excluded). Eligibility is assessed on the resident cultivator, not on the NRI owner.
Other Schemes
- Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and crop loans are extended to cultivating farmers; a resident family member who farms the land can apply. See our KCC guide.
- Crop insurance (PMFBY) covers the cultivator of the insured crop.
- Equipment and irrigation subsidies (solar pump, drip) are claimed by the person undertaking the activity on the land.
Practical Advice
If your family in India cultivates inherited land, keep the land records updated, let the resident cultivator apply for the schemes they qualify for, and use the Subsidy Finder to check eligibility. Do not attempt to claim resident-only benefits as an NRI. Related: land ownership rules and the main NRI guide.