Progress of Crop Insurance and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in India

This paper makes a comparative assessment of the performance of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) (an area-based crop yield insurance) and the previous crop insurance schemes in terms of their coverage, financial performance and operational efficiency in providing a safety net to the farmers when they experience crop loss. The paper showcases the evolution of crop insurance schemes in the country. Using time series secondary data, the study has revealed that PMFBY performs better than the existing National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) in terms of higher adoption rate, higher percentage of farmers benefited and higher percentage of non-loanee farmers enrolment. The paper also lists out some important issues and challenges/problems faced by the farmers in adopting insurance cover.