FAQ - PM Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY)

PRADHAN MANTRI KISAN MAAN-DHAN YOJANA (PM-KMY)

Fequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-dhan Yojana (PM-KMY)?

It is an old age pension scheme for all land holding Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs) in the country. It is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for the entry age group of 18 to 40 years with a provision of payment of Rs. 3000/- monthly pension on attaining the age of 60 years, subject to certain exclusion criteria.

2. What is the definition of Small and Marginal landholder farmer?

A Small and Marginal landholder farmer is defined as a farmer who owns cultivable land upto 2 hectare as per land record of the concerned State/UT.

3. What are the benefits of the scheme?

Under the scheme, the subscriber would receive the following benefits:

(i) Minimum Assured Pension: Each subscriber under the PM-KMY shall receive minimum assured pension of Rs. 3000/- per month after attaining the age of 60 years.

(ii) Family Pension: During the receipt of pension, if the subscriber dies, the spouse of the beneficiary shall be entitled to receive 50% of the pension received by the beneficiary as family pension provided he/she is not already a beneficiary of the scheme. Family pension is applicable only to spouse.

(iii) If a beneficiary has given regular contribution and died of any cause (before age of 60 years), his/her spouse will be entitled to join and continue the scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution or exit the scheme as per provisions of exit and withdrawal.

4. Who is eligible to get the benefits under the Scheme?

All Small and Marginal Farmers having cultivable landholding upto 2 hectares falling in the age group of 18 to 40 years, whose names appear in the land records of States/UTs as on 01.08.2019 are eligible to get benefit under the Scheme.

However, out the these, the following are ineligible to get the benefits:

(i) SMFs covered under any other statuary social security schemes such as National Pension Scheme (NPS), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation scheme, Employees’ Fund Organization Scheme etc.

(ii) Farmers who have opted for Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-SYM) administered by the Ministry of Labour & Employment.

(iii) Farmers who have opted for Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-dhan Yojana (PM-LVM) administered by the Ministry of Labour & Employment.

(iv) Further, the following categories of beneficiaries of higher economic status shall not be eligible for benefits under the scheme:

(a) All Institutional Land holders; and

(b) Former and present holders of constitutional posts

(c) Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers and former/present Members of Lok Sabha/ Rajya Sabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils,former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations, former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.

(d) All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries/ Offices/Departments and its field units Central or State PSEs and Attached offices/ Autonomous Institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees)

(e) All Persons who paid Income Tax in last assessment year.

(f) Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

5. What is the cut-off date for determination of eligibility of beneficiaries under the scheme?

The cut-off date for determination of eligibility of beneficiaries under the scheme shall be 01.08.2019.

6. What is the rate of contribution by Small and Marginal Farmers under the Scheme?

The rate of contribution for the eligible subscriber varies between Rs. 55/- to Rs. 200/- per month depending upon the age of entry as detailed below:

7. Whether an employee of the Central/State Government/PSU/Autonomous Organization, etc. is eligible to get the benefit under the scheme?

No. Serving or retired officer and employee of Central/State Government Ministries/Departments/Offices and its field units, Central and State PSEs and Attached Offices/Autonomous Institutions under the Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies are not eligible to get the benefit under the scheme.

However, serving or retired Multi Tasking Staff/ Class IV/Group D employee is eligible to get the benefit under the scheme, subject to fulfilment of other eligibility criteria.

8. Will any individual farmer owing more than 2 hectare of cultivable land get any benefit under the scheme?

No. Any individual farmer owning more that 2 hectare of cultivable land will not be eligible to get benefit under the scheme.

9. What will happen if the beneficiary gives incorrect declaration to be an eligible subscriber of the scheme?

In case of incorrect declaration, the beneficiary shall be liable to get back his contributions without any interest thereon. The Central Government’s matching contribution will be stopped.

10. Does any person/farmer who is not having land holding in his name is eligible to get benefit under the scheme?

No. Land holding is the criteria to be eligible to get the benefit under the scheme.

11. How the subscriber under the scheme will be identified and shortlisted under the scheme?

The prevailing land ownership system /record of land in different States/UTs will be used to identify the eligible SMF, subject to exclusion criteria.

12. What will be the Mandatory information required for registration of eligible subscriber under the scheme?

The beneficiary will provide following information at the time of registration 

• Farmer’s / Spouse’s name
• Farmer’s / Spouse’s date of birth
• Bank account number
• IFSC/ MICR Code
• Mobile Number
• Aadhaar Number
• Other customer information as available in the passbook which is required for mandate registration.

The onus of recording the correct details of the customer and validation of customer will be on Common Service Centre e-Governance Services India Limited –

Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC-SPV) or the State Nodal Officers (SNOs) under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) Scheme. If there are any dispute at a later date by the customer on the debits to his/her account, the onus of resolving the dispute to the satisfaction of the customer will entirely rest with LIC.

13. Who will act as Pension Fund Manager for the Scheme?

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) shall be the Pension Fund Manager and responsible for Pension Pay-Out.

14. Can contribution to the scheme may be made from the benefits received from PM-KISAN Scheme?

Yes. The SMFs shall have the option to allow payment of his/her voluntary contribution to the Scheme from the financial benefits received by them from the PM-KISAN Scheme, directly.

The eligible SMFs who are desirous of using their PM-Kisan benefit for contributing for PM-KMY, will have to sign and submit an enrolment-cum-autodebit-mandate form for giving their consent for auto-debiting their bank accounts, in which their PM-Kisan benefits are credited, so that their contributions are automatically paid.

15. How the monthly contribution can be made by a subscriber, if he is not willing to give their consent for auto-debit from PM-KISAN benefits or are not a beneficiary of PM-KISAN?

The eligible SMFs who are not beneficiaries of PM-Kisan or who have not given consent to allow payment from the benefit of PM-Kisan shall submit an enrolment-cum-auto-debit mandate form for giving their consent to auto-debit a bank account which is normally used by them for bank transactions.

16. What would constitute a Pension Fund?

The Central Government through the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare shall also contribute an equal amount as contributed by the eligible subscriber, to the pension Fund. Account of such co-contributions shall be maintained separately by the LIC and these co-contributions along with fund earnings from time to time shall be utilized for pension payment on the date of vesting. Co-contributions would not be paid to subscribers in case of pre-mature exits. In such a case, the co-contributions along with fund earnings will be transferred back to Pension Fund.

17. Will State/UT Governments are permitted to share the burden of individual SMF beneficiary contribution?

Yes. The State / UT Governments will have the option of sharing the burden of individual SMF beneficiary’s contribution.

18. What will be the due date for monthly contribution?

The monthly contributions will fall due on the same day every month as enrolment date. The beneficiaries may also chose an option to pay their contributions on quarterly, 4-monthly or half-yearly basis. Such contributions will fall due on the same day of such period as the date of enrollment.

19. Can the spouse of a subscriber continue in case of death of the subscriber before vesting date? What are the eligible benefits under various circumstances ?

In case of death of subscriber before vesting date, the spouse of subscriber shall have an option of continuing the scheme by payment of remaining contributions under the scheme, provided she/he is not already an SMF beneficiary of the Scheme. The rate of contribution and vesting date shall remain the same.

Pension accruals will be calculated as if subscriber were to be alive on the vesting date. However, the same pension would be payable to the spouse. Upon death of spouse after vesting date, pension corpus would be transferred back to Pension Fund.

In case of death of subscriber before vesting date, if the spouse does not exercise option of continuing under the scheme, then subscribers’ contributions along with fund interest earned or Savings Bank Interest whichever is higher would be payable to the spouse under the scheme.

In case of death of subscriber before vesting date, if there is no spouse, then subscribers’ contributions along with fund interest earned or Savings Bank Interest, whichever is higher, would be payable to the nominee/s under the scheme. The cocontributions made by Government along with fund interest earned after adjusting for difference between Savings Bank Interest payable and fund interest earned, if any will be credited back to Pension fund of Government.

If a subscriber dies after the date of vesting, his/her spouse shall be entitled to receive 50% of the pension received by such eligible subscriber as Family Pension, provided she/he is not already an SMF beneficiary of the Scheme, and such family pension shall be applicable only to the spouse.

After death of subscriber as well as of his/her spouse, the corpus i.e. total accumulated contributions made by the subscriber and the Government shall be credited back to the fund.

20. When CSC would issue a Pension Card to the subscriber?

Upon completion of enrolment process at Common Service Centres (CSC), an enrolment-cum-auto-debit-mandate form will be generated for taking consent of those farmers who are also beneficiaries of PM-Kisan Scheme for auto-debiting their PM-Kisan benefits from their bank accounts and signed by the subscriber.

In respect of those farmers who are not beneficiaries of PM-Kisan Scheme, the enrolment-cum-auto-debit-mandate form will be generated for taking their consent for auto-debiting their active bank accounts and signed by the subscriber. The CSC Centres would scan the signed enrolment-cum-auto-debit mandate form and upload the same on the CSC system.

Subsequent to this a pension card would be generated and given to subscriber as proof of pension account having been opened.

21. Whether the applicant farmers / their spouse will be charged any fee for enrolment under the Scheme?

The enrolment at CSC Centres is free of cost and the applicant farmers / their spouse shall not have to pay any charge for the purpose.

22. What is the alternative mechanism for registration of eligible beneficiary other than enrolment through CSC?

The eligible beneficiaries may alternatively also enrol themselves by contacting physically the State Nodal Officers (SNOs) (or agencies designated by them) in their respective districts.

23. How the subscriber will change his bank details or any other details which are not correct?

A Subscriber, who desires to change the bank details or any other details which are incorrect, will approach CSC or the Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) present at the CSC, along with PM-KMY number and Aadhaar Card. However, the Date of Birth of the Subscriber cannot be changed at any time. The VLE at CSC will validate the credentials of the Member on the payment of the Amount / Fee as prescribed by the Government from time to time.

24. What are the provisions relating to default in payment of contributions?

(a) It may so happen that subscriber’s bank account may not have sufficient funds for auto-debit of contributions to be successful. When contribution auto-debit is not successful on payment cycle immediately following the contribution due date, the subscriber’s account will be deemed to have defaulted or will be treated as an account in default.

(b) The demand would then be repeated in the next payment cycle.

(c) When a PM-KMY Pension Account is in default, the same may be regularized with payment of all contributions that have fallen due along with interest as follows :

(i) Until 1 month from first unpaid contribution: No late fee would be charged. Account can be regularized by paying contribution amount only. Three payment cycles demand would be raised for payment of contribution without any interest.

(ii) After one month from last unpaid contribution :

(1) Payments would be processed on specified payment cycle dates.

(2) No interest would be charged on the amount of contribution that became due immediately preceding the payment cycle date.

(3) However, if there are arrears of installments due on the due date immediately preceding the payment cycle date, late fee or at saving bank interest would be charged. Such late fee would be computed on each of the installment from due date of installment to the due date preceding the payment cycle date. If the period of default of a particular installment is up to 12 months, the reckoning of interest would be simple interest method. But if period of default of a particular installment is over 12 months, then compounding interest would be reckoned for completed number of years’ part and for remaining period simple interest would be reckoned.

(4) The rate of interest/late fee would be the one that is prevailing on the date of payment cycle date, as declared by the Government from time to time.

(5) In case of dispute, the decision of LIC of India would be binding on subscriber.

(iii) The interest/late fee charged would be credited into pension account and shall be part of fund earnings under the scheme.

(iv) Interest is reckoned only from the date of remittance and credited on annual basis.

(v) Matching amount of co-contribution shall be credited by GOI which shall be maintained separately and this portion shall be utilized only for pension corpus on the vesting date.

(d) If contributions remain unpaid for a period of six months, such account status would be changed to ‘dormant account’ and for dormant accounts demand would not be raised further. Suitable SMS alerts / notices would, however, be sent for the dormant status accounts for a period of three years from date of first unpaid contribution. He/she will, however, be allowed to regularize his/her contribution by paying the entire outstanding dues, along with interest of the rate as determined by the Government from time to time.

(e) After lapse of period of three years from the date of last unpaid contribution, SMS alerts / notices would be stopped. However, Subscriber may make inquiries about status of his account through dedicated call centre or make on-line web inquires. He/she will, however, be allowed to regularize his/her contribution by paying the entire outstanding dues, along with interest of the rate as determined by the Government from time to time.

(f) If a beneficiary becomes ineligible for the Pension under PM-KMY, his account will be active but Government’s contribution (50%) shall be stopped. If beneficiary agrees to pay the entire amount of the contribution, he will be allowed to operate the account. At the age of 60, he shall be allowed to withdraw his contribution with an interest equivalent to the prevailing saving bank rates.

25. Is there any provision for commutation of pension under the scheme?

There is no provision for commutation of pension.

26. What is the process of nomination under the scheme?

Every Subscriber shall appoint / nominate the spouse or dependants as Beneficiary or Beneficiaries under the Scheme to receive the benefits hereunder in the event of the death of the subscriber.

Every appointment / nomination to be made under this Rule shall be in writing signed by the subscriber and shall remain in full force and effect until the death of the Beneficiary or until the same will be revoked in writing by the subscriber by whom the same was made and a fresh appointment / nomination is made in the manner aforesaid.

A subscriber may from time to time or at any time without the consent of the nominee, if any, revoke or change the nominee by filling a written notice of the change online or at the CSC in the prescribed form whereupon an acknowledgement of the change and the registration of the name of the new Nominee will be given to the subscriber online / at the CSC. The New appointment shall take effect on the date the notice was signed whether or not the subscriber is living on the date of acknowledgement of the change without prejudice to the Corporation on account of any payment made before the acknowledgement of the change.

If a Nominee shall at the time of his appointment be a minor or otherwise under disability to give a legal receipt or discharge to the LIC the subscriber must at the time of such appointment as aforesaid appoint a person who is major and who is capable of giving a legal receipt or discharge to the Corporation and to whom the benefits are to be paid for and on behalf of such Nominee so long as such minority or disability continues.

If more than one Nominee is appointed and in such appointment the Subscriber has failed to specify their respective interest, the Nominees so named shall share equally. If any designated Nominee predeceases the Subscriber the interest of such Nominee shall terminates and his share shall be payable equally to such of the remaining Nominees as survive the Subscriber unless the Subscriber has made written request otherwise to the LIC in the prescribed form.

27. What is the process of Review, Monitoring and Grievance Redressal Mechanism?

An Empowered Committee under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary with Secretaries of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Department of Expenditure, the Department of Financial Services and any other Secretary concerned as members shall review and monitor implementation of the Scheme through appropriate implementation strategies and to approve any modifications in the Scheme within the within the overall financial parameters of Scheme approved by the Cabinet, for effective implementation. The overall implementation of the Scheme would be done by the Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) set up for PM-Kisan Scheme at Central level in the DAC&FW. The PMU shall also undertake publicity campaign (Information, Education and Communication-IEC) for the Scheme and also incur various administrative expenses. Each State/UT Government will designate a Nodal Department for implementation of the scheme and coordinating with Central Government with regard to implementation of the Scheme.

A Grievance Redressal Cell shall be set up both at State and District Levels accordingly with representation of State Nodal Officers, State Level Bankers’ Committee and Regional Manager, LIC. Similarly, District Levels shall have DLBC and LIC Representatives along with District level Government Officers.

All disputes to the extent of and limited to the transactions routed through National Automated Clearing House (NACH) system should be routed by the banks through the Dispute Management System (DMS) provided by NPCI. The disputes so raised on the Sponsor Bank shall be resolved within 30 days from the date of dispute. If the Sponsor Bank fails to respond / resolve the dispute within agreed time line, the disputed amount will be debited to the settlement account of the Sponsor Bank maintained with Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Any disputes other than that detailed above shall be resolved by LIC, Sponsor Bank and the Ministry without any liability on the other participating stakeholders. 

Any matter related to execution, grievance redressal, dispute resolution etc. may be referred to the Joint Secretary (Farmers Welfare), Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & farmers Welfare, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi – 110001.

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