Parliament Question: Non-receipt of PM-KISAN installment due to eKYC failures

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1609 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13/02/2026 NON-RECEIPT OF PM-KISAN INSTALLMENT DUE TO eKYC FAILURES 1609. DR. SYED NASEER HUSSAIN: Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE be pleased to state: (a) the number of farmers who did not receive Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKISAN) installments in the latest payment cycle due to failures or incomplete mandatory electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) verification, State/UT-wise; and (b) the reasons for the high incidence of eKYC failures, including technological barriers, such as poor connectivity and biometric authentication issues, data mismatches between Aadhaar and land records and deficiencies in Common Service Centre (CSC) support? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR) (a) & (b): The PM-KISAN scheme is a central sector scheme launched in February 2019 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister to supplement the financial needs of farmers with cultivable land-holding. Under the scheme, a financial benefit of ₹ 6,000/- per year is transferred in three equal instalments, into the Aadhaar seeded bank accounts of farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. Under the PM-KISAN Scheme, cultivable landholding is primary eligibility criteria to receive benefit of the Scheme subject to certain exclusions relating to higher economic status. A farmer-centric digital infrastructure has ensured the benefits of the scheme reach all the farmers across the country without involvement of any intermediaries. Maintaining absolute transparency in registering and verifying beneficiaries, the Government of India has disbursed over ₹ 4.09 lakh Cr. through 21 installments since inception of the Scheme. To ensure that the benefits are provided only to the eligible beneficiaries, land seeding, e- KYC and Aadhaar-based payment have been made mandatory under the PM-KISAN scheme. e- KYC was made mandatory from the 15th instalment (August 2023 - November 2023) to authenticate the beneficiary and to ensure that the beneficiary is alive. During the release of 15th instalment of the PM-KISAN scheme, 8.12 Cr farmers received the benefits who had completed their e-KYC. Though, primarily it is the mandate of the States to ensure eKYC of all eligible beneficiaries, Department ofAgriculture and Farmers Welfare has taken several initiatives to ensure completion of eKYC by PM- KISAN beneficiaries:-  e-KYC saturation campaigns were conducted with the support of CSCs. Over 5 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) have been onboarded to facilitate registrations and meet mandatory requirements, including eKYC.  Face Authentication–based e-KYC facility was added to the PM-KISAN mobile app, in June 2023 enabling beneficiaries to complete their e-KYC from home as well as perform e-KYC for up to 100 other farmers. This facility has specially helped old age beneficiaries and also the beneficiaries who live in remote areas, to complete their eKYC.  Under the scheme, through regular review meetings with States/UTs have also been pursued to ensure completion of mandatory requirements by beneficiaries i.e. land seeding, Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, and eKYC in coordination with CSCs, IPPB and banks.  Village Nodal Officers are appointed by the respective State/UTs to address farmers' issues and around 1.0 Lakhs VNOs covering over 4.0 lakhs villages, have been designated at village level to assist the farmers in completing their mandatory formalities. They can verify the land details of farmers and complete e-KYC of farmers.  A voice-based PM-KISAN AI Chatbot (Kisan e-Mitra) was developed by the Government. This Chatbot provides quick, accurate, and clear responses to farmers' queries round the clock in their native languages, making the system more accessible and user- friendly. It is accessible on all platforms such as web, mobile, etc. The Kisan eMitra Chatbot currently operates in 11 languages—English, Hindi, Odia, Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu, and Marathi. This Chatbot also provides information to farmers for completing their eKYC. With these efforts, 60.93 lakh new farmers have registered and completed their eKYC. Above efforts have also enabled existing eligible beneficiaries to complete eKYC and receive their benefits. During the release of 21st instalment of PM-KISAN in November 2025, 9.35 Crore beneficiaries have completed their eKYC and received the benefit. Number of cases wherein eKYC is still pending are attached at Annexure-I. However, it may be noted that the pendency of eKYC cannot be solely attributed to failed attempts to complete eKYC or to technological barriers. eKYC was made mandatory to ensure the authenticity of beneficiaries and to confirm that the eligible beneficiary whose Aadhaar has been uploaded is the actual recipient of the scheme benefits. Consequently, a large number of ineligible cases are excluded due to pending eKYC. Further, in cases where the death of an eligible beneficiary occurred during the scheme period, eKYC would also remain pending. As and when the farmers complete their mandatory requirements, their benefits under the Scheme will resume.Annexure State-wise details of beneficiaries for whom eKYC is pending under PM-Kisan Scheme, as on 10.02.2026 Farmers for whom e- # State Name KYC pending 1 ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS 737 2 ANDHRA PRADESH 17,383 3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 25,351 4 ASSAM 6,099 5 BIHAR 10,599 6 CHANDIGARH 28 7 CHHATTISGARH 4,931 8 DELHI 2 9 GOA 178 10 GUJARAT 2,74,424 11 HARYANA 95,899 12 HIMACHAL PRADESH 33,711 13 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 3,773 14 JHARKHAND 1,76,386 15 KARNATAKA 2,05,455 16 KERALA 1,42,227 17 LADAKH 565 18 LAKSHADWEEP 104 19 MADHYA PRADESH 80,235 20 MAHARASHTRA 35,828 21 MANIPUR 1,23,365 22 MEGHALAYA 6,292 23 MIZORAM 11,937 24 NAGALAND 22,348 25 ODISHA 1,87,666 26 PUDUCHERRY 131 27 PUNJAB 1,33,710 28 RAJASTHAN 1,91,367 29 SIKKIM 720 30 TAMIL NADU 62,204 31 TELANGANA 33,731 THE DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI AND DAMAN 32 410 AND DIU 33 TRIPURA 12,165 34 UTTAR PRADESH 11,18,964 35 UTTARAKHAND 14,545 36 WEST BENGAL 2,85,640 Total 33,19,110 *****