The Government intends to spend Rs. 30,000 crore (US$ 3.60 billion) to build a crop cover portal

The government intends to spend Rs. 30,000 crore (US$ 3.60 billion) to build the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) site into a comprehensive platform that will extend insurance coverage beyond crops including assets like ponds, tractors, animals, palm trees, etc.

This campaign will be powered by the AIDE app, which was released in July to assure door-to-door enrolment, making crop insurance more accessible and convenient for farmers. Through this software, insurance brokers will not only enrol farmers in crop insurance but also cover 40 million farmers in non-subsidized plans.

An official said, " We are planning to build a platform. It’s a transition from being a portal to a platform. AIDE app is already there for farmers, through which insurance intermediaries enrol farmers for crop insurance. While they enrol the farmers for a subsidized scheme, which is PMFBY, farmers may also want some of their other rural products that are not subsidized to be covered by insurance. If the portal is converted into a platform, farmers will be able to get insurance coverage for their non-subsidized agricultural assets. Based on the subsidized platform, we will try to get schemes enrolled onto our platform where farmers of certain regions will be given choices to opt for other schemes".

PMFBY, a central government-sponsored crop insurance plan that unites all stakeholders on one platform, has been overhauled with the introduction of new technological initiatives such as YES-Tech, WINDS portal, and AIDE app, signalling a watershed moment for crop insurance in India. Following the reform of PMFBY, insured acreage increased by 12% in 2022-23, reaching more than 49.7 million hectares, and is predicted to reach an all-time high of 57.5-60 million hectares in the 2023-24 Kharif season.

The official said, “If we do it for one or two years, we will come to know what type of insurance farmers in a certain region want. We can build it into a scheme for subsidy. So, it becomes a sandbox under PMFBY to get new schemes by knowing the market demand. It will not be limited to crop insurance, but other insurance requirements and enrolments as well”.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.