State-run general insurer National Insurance Company Ltd has collected a massive Rs 800-900 crore as premium under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), a top official said today.
"We are not part of the kharif season, but we are part of the rabi season. In rabi season, premium is lower. We have received about Rs 800-900 crore in this rabi season,” said company's Chairman & Managing Director K. Sanath Kumar.
"But now that the season is over, the collection will not go up much until the end of the fiscal," he added.
"So far, the government has infused around Rs 15,000 crore in the form of premium under the PMFBY. The government infusion is expected to touch Rs 20,000 crore by the end of the fiscal," he said at a conference organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
With a view to de-risk agriculture of vagaries of nature, the PMFBY, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February last year, replaced the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and the Modified National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
According to the scheme, there would be a uniform premium of only two per cent to be paid by the farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5 per cent for all rabi crops. In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by the farmers would be only 5 per cent.
The premium rates to be paid by the farmers are low and the balance premium will be paid by the government to provide full insurance amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities.
There is no upper limit on the government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90 per cent, it will be borne by the government.
