AgriBot

PM-KISAN Guide — Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi: Eligibility, eKYC, Beneficiary Status & Grievance Redressal

Canonical reference: https://agri.bot/pm-kisan

PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi)is the Government of India's flagship cash-transfer scheme for landholding farmer families. Every eligible family receives ₹6,000 per year, paid in three equal instalments of ₹2,000every four months, directly into an Aadhaar-linked bank account through Direct Benefit Transfer. This guide walks through eligibility and the official exclusion list, the three registration routes, what eKYC means and how to complete it, how to check beneficiary status, the most common reasons for held-back instalments, and where to raise a grievance. For how PM-KISAN sits alongside other schemes, see our India government schemes for farmers reference.

What is PM-KISAN?

PM-KISAN is a central-sector scheme — i.e. fully funded by the Government of India — launched on 24 February 2019 from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh by the Prime Minister, with effect from 1 December 2018. It is administered by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The objective is to supplement the financial needs of landholding farmer families to procure inputs such as seeds, fertiliser and equipment, and to meet domestic needs, ensuring a baseline of income support across the cropping cycle.

The scheme was originally announced for small and marginal farmer families holding up to 2 hectares of cultivable land. From 1 June 2019 the landholding ceiling was removed and the scheme was extended to all landholding farmer families across the country, subject to the official exclusion list. Land ownership is taken as on 1 February 2019 as the cut-off, with subsequent transfers by inheritance recognised on verification.

Key features at a glance

  • Benefit: ₹6,000 per year per eligible family, comprising 3 × ₹2,000 instalments paid every four months.
  • Mode: Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to an Aadhaar-linked savings bank account through the PFMS payment platform.
  • Funding:100% Government of India — no state share, unlike most other DA&FW schemes.
  • Coverage unit: the family — defined as husband, wife and minor children — is the unit of benefit, not the individual. Two adults in the same family cannot each draw a separate ₹6,000.
  • Launch: 24 February 2019; landholding ceiling removed from 1 June 2019.
  • Portal: pmkisan.gov.in and the official PM Kisan Mobile App (Android, available on Google Play).

Eligibility

Eligibility is keyed to the landholding farmer family owning cultivable land as recorded in the state revenue records. Beyond this, the official guidelines published on pmkisan.gov.in explicitly exclude the following higher-income or institutional categories — even if they own cultivable land:

  • Institutional landholders.
  • Farmer families in which one or more members belong to the following categories:
  • Former and present holders of constitutional posts.
  • Former and present Ministers, State Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Mayors of Municipal Corporations and Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
  • All serving or retired officers and employees of central and state government Ministries, offices and departments, and their field units; central or state PSUs and their attached offices/autonomous institutions; and regular employees of local bodies — excluding Multi-Tasking Staff / Class IV / Group D employees (these are eligible).
  • All superannuated or retired pensioners drawing a monthly pension of ₹10,000 or more — other than Multi-Tasking Staff / Class IV / Group D employees.
  • All persons who paid income tax in the last assessment year.
  • Professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants and architects, who are registered with their professional bodies and carry out the profession by undertaking practices.

The exclusion list applies if any member of the family falls in one of these categories. Tenant farmers, sharecroppers and oral lessees are not the addressed unit under PM-KISAN; the benefit goes to the family that owns the land as per state revenue records. Where land has been mutated by inheritance after 1 February 2019, the new owner-cultivator family is taken in.

How to apply / register

A farmer can register through any one of the three official routes below. In all cases land records are verified by the state agriculture/revenue department before the first instalment releases.

  1. State Nodal Officer / village Patwari / Revenue Officer / Lekhpal. Each state has designated nodal officers and village-level revenue functionaries who collect details, verify the khasra/khatauni against state records, and upload the application into the PM-KISAN database.
  2. Common Service Centre (CSC). The nearest CSC or State Seva Kendra captures Aadhaar, bank-account and land details against a small notified service fee. CSCs also handle biometric eKYC for existing beneficiaries.
  3. Self-registration on pmkisan.gov.in. Open the portal, go to Farmers Corner → New Farmer Registration, choose Rural or Urban farmer registration, and enter Aadhaar, mobile and state. Verify with OTP, then fill bank-account and land-record details. Submit and note the application reference for status tracking.

Required documents

  • Aadhaar — mandatory; used for de-duplication, eKYC and DBT seeding.
  • Active savings bank accountwith IFSC, linked to the farmer's Aadhaar in the NPCI/DBT mapper. Joint accounts and accounts under a different name will fail seeding.
  • Land-record reference — khasra/khatauni/survey number, village and tehsil as recorded with the state revenue department. Some states upload digitised records (e.g. Bhulekh, Mahabhulekh, Dharani) directly against the application.
  • Registered mobile number — preferably the one linked to Aadhaar, for OTP-based eKYC and SMS instalment alerts.

eKYC — what it is and how to complete it

eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer) is mandatory for every PM-KISAN beneficiary to keep receiving instalments. It validates that the person drawing the benefit is the same as the Aadhaar holder on record and is the principal control against duplicates and ineligible beneficiaries. Three modes are accepted:

  • OTP-based eKYC — open Farmers Corner → eKYC on pmkisan.gov.in, enter Aadhaar, receive an OTP on the Aadhaar-linked mobile and submit. Free and self-serve, but only works if the mobile is currently linked to Aadhaar.
  • Biometric eKYC at a CSC — visit the nearest Common Service Centre or State Seva Kendra; the Village Level Entrepreneur captures fingerprint or iris through the UIDAI-authorised authentication device. Useful when the Aadhaar-linked mobile is no longer in use.
  • Face-authentication eKYC — open the official PM Kisan Mobile App on an Android phone, enter Aadhaar and capture a live photo using the in-app face-authentication flow built on the UIDAI Aadhaar Face RD service. Works without an OTP and without a CSC visit.

Instalments are withheld for accounts where eKYC is pending; once eKYC is completed and verified, withheld instalments are released in subsequent payment cycles.

How to check beneficiary status and instalment history

The portal exposes a self-service Beneficiary Status / Know Your Status page under Farmers Corner. To check:

  1. Open pmkisan.gov.in and click Farmers Corner → Beneficiary Status.
  2. Enter Aadhaar number, bank account number or registered mobile number and verify the captcha.
  3. The screen shows registration status, eKYC status, land-seeding status and an instalment-wise payment history — instalment number, payment date, amount credited and the bank to which it was sent.

The same data is available on the official PM Kisan Mobile App. SMS confirmations are also sent to the registered mobile when an instalment credits or fails.

Common reasons for payment rejection or hold

When an instalment does not credit, the Beneficiary Status page shows the specific reason against the cycle. The most common reasons reported on pmkisan.gov.in are:

  • Aadhaar–bank seeding mismatch. The bank account is not linked to Aadhaar in the NPCI mapper, or the name on the bank account does not match Aadhaar — the most frequent rejection in the first instalment after a new application.
  • eKYC pending or failed. No instalment is released until eKYC is completed for the beneficiary.
  • Land-seeding not done. The state has not yet uploaded the verified land-record reference; this is resolved through the village Patwari/Lekhpal or block agriculture officer.
  • Ineligibility flag. The beneficiary has been identified as falling under one of the exclusion categories — for example, an income-tax payer in the last assessment year, or a government employee above the cut-off — and instalments are paused pending review.
  • Incorrect or closed bank account. Wrong IFSC, account closed or dormant; the bank reverses the DBT credit.
  • Duplicate records. Two records exist for the same family (e.g. husband and wife both registered separately); the system pauses payments until duplicates are de-duplicated.

Each reason has a defined corrective action — typically a visit to the bank to seed Aadhaar, a CSC visit for biometric eKYC, or a visit to the Patwari/Lekhpal for land-record correction — after which the held-back instalment is released in the next cycle.

Grievance redressal

PM-KISAN runs a multi-channel grievance redressal system. Use these official channels and keep your Aadhaar and registration reference handy:

  • Online helpdesk: the Helpdesk tab on pmkisan.gov.in — submit the issue, receive a Query ID and track its status.
  • Email: [email protected].
  • Helpline numbers: 155261 (toll-free) and 011-24300606.
  • State / district level: the state nodal officer or the local agriculture / revenue office is the resolution point for land-seeding, name-spelling and bank-account correction; the central helpdesk routes the ticket to the relevant district officer.

Important official links

How this connects with other farmer-welfare programmes

PM-KISAN is the income-support leg of the central farmer-welfare portfolio and works best alongside the credit, risk and market legs. See our India government schemes for farmers reference for the wider portfolio. In particular:

  • Credit (Kisan Credit Card). The simplified one-page KCC application form on pmkisan.gov.in is accepted at any bank where a PM-KISAN beneficiary holds an active savings account — a 14-day disposal mandate applies. See our Kisan Credit Card deep-dive guide for scale-of-finance math, the 2% interest subvention + 3% prompt-repayment incentive (effective 4% per annum), RBI collateral-free ceiling and grievance redressal.
  • Soil health. Use the input-cost component of PM-KISAN against a current soil-test recommendation — see our Soil Health Card guide for the 12 parameters tested and how to act on them; balanced fertiliser use often returns more than the ₹6,000 transfer over a season.
  • Market access. When you sell, use a verified assay grade and online price discovery on e-NAM — our e-NAM mandi guide covers registration, assaying and the eNWR warehouse-trading route.
  • Water-use efficiency. The PMKSY Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme subsidises drip and sprinkler irrigation by 45–55% combined central + state share — a structural input-cost reduction that compounds the PM-KISAN transfer.
  • Sowing and risk planning. Time the input spend against critical growth stages with our India crop calendar, and check our knowledge base for crop-specific guides and pest advisories.
  • Old-age income. Convert part of the PM-KISAN instalment into a guaranteed pension by enrolling in PM-KMY (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana) — small / marginal farmers aged 18–40 pay ₹55–₹200 a month (matched 1:1 by the centre) for a ₹3,000 monthly pension from age 60. The premium can be auto-deducted from the PM-KISAN instalment, removing the need for a separate bank mandate.

References

Frequently asked questions

What is PM-KISAN and how much does it pay?
PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) is a central-sector income-support scheme launched on 24 February 2019 by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Eligible landholding farmer families receive ₹6,000 per year, paid in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 every four months as Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the farmer's Aadhaar-linked bank account. The scheme is fully funded by the Government of India.
Who is excluded from PM-KISAN?
As per the official PM-KISAN guidelines on pmkisan.gov.in, certain higher-income or institutional categories are excluded even if they hold cultivable land: institutional landholders; current and former holders of constitutional posts; current and former Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Mayors of Municipal Corporations and Chairpersons of District Panchayats; serving or retired officers and employees of central/state government Ministries, offices and PSUs and their attached offices/autonomous bodies (Group A/B), excluding Multi-Tasking Staff/Class IV/Group D; superannuated/retired pensioners drawing a monthly pension of ₹10,000 or more (other than Multi-Tasking Staff/Class IV/Group D); income-tax payers in the last assessment year; and professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers, chartered accountants and architects who are registered with their professional bodies and carry out the profession by undertaking practices.
Is eKYC mandatory for PM-KISAN beneficiaries?
Yes. eKYC is mandatory for all PM-KISAN beneficiaries to continue receiving instalments. Three modes are accepted: OTP-based eKYC through the 'Farmers Corner' on pmkisan.gov.in (using the Aadhaar-linked mobile number), biometric eKYC at the nearest Common Service Centre (CSC) or State Seva Kendra, and face-authentication eKYC through the official PM Kisan Mobile App. Instalments are withheld for accounts where eKYC is pending.
How do I check my PM-KISAN beneficiary status and instalment history?
Visit pmkisan.gov.in and open 'Farmers Corner → Beneficiary Status' (also called 'Know Your Status'). Enter your registered Aadhaar number, bank account number or mobile number to see registration status, eKYC status, land-seeding status and the instalment-wise payment history with date and amount. The same information is available through the official PM Kisan Mobile App.
How do I register for PM-KISAN?
There are three official routes: (1) approach the State Nodal Officer or the village Patwari/Revenue Officer/Lekhpal designated by the state government — they verify land records and upload the application; (2) visit the nearest Common Service Centre (CSC), where the Village Level Entrepreneur captures your details against a small notified fee; or (3) self-register on pmkisan.gov.in under 'Farmers Corner → New Farmer Registration' using Aadhaar, mobile and bank-account details. In all routes the state agriculture/revenue department verifies land records before the first instalment is released.
What documents are needed to apply for PM-KISAN?
Aadhaar (mandatory and used for eKYC and DBT seeding), an active savings bank account with the IFSC code, and land-record details — the khasra/khatauni/survey number reference for the holding as recorded with the state revenue department. The bank account must be linked with the Aadhaar through NPCI/DBT mapper for instalments to credit successfully. A registered mobile number is needed for OTP-based eKYC and SMS confirmations.
Why might a PM-KISAN instalment be rejected or held back?
The most common reasons reported on pmkisan.gov.in are: Aadhaar–bank account name or seeding mismatch (the bank account is not linked to Aadhaar in the NPCI mapper); eKYC pending or failed; land-seeding not completed or land records pending verification by the state; the beneficiary being flagged under one of the official exclusion categories (income-tax payer in the last assessment year, government employee above the cut-off, etc.); incorrect IFSC or closed bank account; and duplication where multiple records exist for the same family. The 'Beneficiary Status' page lists the specific reason against the held-back instalment.
How do I raise a grievance if my payment is stuck?
PM-KISAN grievances can be raised through the helpdesk on pmkisan.gov.in (the 'Helpdesk' tab — submit the issue and track it by Query ID), by emailing [email protected], or by calling the PM-KISAN helpline on 155261 / 011-24300606. For corrections to land-seeding, name spelling, Aadhaar or bank-account details, the state nodal officer or the local agriculture/revenue office is the resolution point — the central helpdesk routes the ticket to the relevant district officer.

Scheme parameters, exclusion list and grievance contacts above summarise publicly available guidelines on pmkisan.gov.in and DA&FW circulars. Helpline numbers, instalment cycles and process steps are subject to revision; farmers should always verify current terms on the official portal or with their state nodal officer before applying or raising a grievance.