Centre expands technology-based crop insurance system to improve claim settlements
New Delhi, July 24 (TNT): The Government of India is strengthening technology-based systems under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to improve crop damage assessment, ensure transparency and enable faster settlement of insurance claims for farmers.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ramnath Thakur said the Weather Information Network and Data System (WINDS) initiative is being implemented to create a national network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs) for generating long-term hyperlocal weather data.
WINDS has been adopted by seven States and Union Territories — Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. So far, 16,843 sites have been approved for installation, civil works have been completed at 1,188 sites and 892 AWS/ARG units have been installed, he informed in the House.
The Union Minister said the Yield Estimation System Based on Technology (YES-TECH) has been implemented under PMFBY from Kharif 2023 to enable objective crop damage and yield assessment through technology-based methods.
YES-TECH aims to gradually shift towards remote sensing-based yield estimation for accurate crop assessment.
The system was introduced for paddy and wheat crops from Kharif 2023 and for soybean from Kharif 2024, with mandatory weightage assigned to technology-based yield estimation.
During 2025-26, YES-TECH was implemented in 12 states across 344 districts. Madhya Pradesh assigned 100 per cent weightage to technology-based yield estimation, while Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh assigned 50 per cent weightage and Odisha and Karnataka assigned 40 per cent weightage.
He said a mechanism is in place for regular review of YES-TECH implementation with stakeholders.
To ensure timely settlement of crop insurance claims, the government has developed the National Crop Insurance Portal (NCIP) as a single platform for subsidy payments, farmer enrolment, dissemination of information and electronic transfer of claim amounts directly to farmers’ bank accounts, the Union minister said.
A dedicated ‘Digiclaim Module’ has also been operational since Kharif 2022 for monitoring claim payments. The module integrates NCIP with the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) and insurance companies’ accounting systems to ensure transparent and timely processing of claims, he said.
The government has introduced a 12 per cent penalty on insurance companies for delayed claim payments from Kharif 2024 through automatic calculation on NCIP. A similar penalty has been imposed on states for delays in releasing their share of premium subsidy from Kharif 2025, the Union Minsiter said.
The government has also made opening of an Escrow Account by states mandatory from Kharif 2025 to ensure timely deposit of premium contributions and financial discipline, he said.
Other technology initiatives include capturing crop yield and Crop Cutting Experiment (CCE) data through the CCE-Agri App, integration of state land records with NCIP, allowing insurance companies to witness CCEs and adoption of remote sensing-based yield estimation.
The Union Minister said the Crop Loss Assessment App (CLAP), a digital mobile application developed for assessing crop losses due to localised calamities and post-harvest losses at individual farm level, has been made mandatory for all States and Union Territories under PMFBY.
TNT KS
