PM-Kisan update: 70 lakh farmers removed from beneficiary list; govt flags suspicious accounts — check your payment status - Money News

In comparison to the 20th instalment, around 70 lakh fewer farmers received the payment this time, leading to savings of roughly Rs 2,500 crore for the government. In August, the government had transferred about Rs 20,500 crore to around 9.7 crore farmers.

Written by PF Desk

November 20, 2025 12:54 IST

PM-Kisan update: 70 lakh names removed from beneficiary list

PM-Kisan Latest Update: Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the 21st instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme on November 19, benefitting around 9 crore farmers across India. The Centre has transferred nearly Rs 18,000 crore to eligible farmers through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system.

So far, over Rs 3.88 lakh crore has been disbursed to farming families under 21 instalments of PM-Kisan.

PM-Kisan scheme details

The PM-Kisan scheme is a central sector scheme launched in February 2019 to supplement the financial needs of land-holding farmers. Under the scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred in three equal installments into the Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.

With a view to boosting the income of the Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs), the PM-KISAN scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of the SMFs in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income at the end of each crop cycle.

This would also protect them from falling in the clutches of moneylenders for meeting such expenses and ensure their continuance in the farming activities, says a government release.

Why were 70 lakh names removed from the PM-Kisan list?

The significant drop in the number of beneficiaries comes after a strict verification drive carried out by the government. The objective was to ensure that only genuine and eligible farmers continue to receive PM-Kisan benefits. Following this verification, the beneficiary count reduced by almost 7 million for the latest instalment.

Additionally, the government has put on hold the accounts and registration processes of thousands of farmers on suspicion that many applicants may not meet the eligibility criteria. The agriculture ministry has been conducting a nationwide “saturation drive” to verify records and weed out ineligible entries.

The PM-Kisan official portal also carried a notice saying that the government “identified certain suspected cases that may fall under the exclusion criteria outlined in the PM-Kisan scheme guidelines”. Farmers are advised to visit the official website and check their eligibility status to avoid disruptions in future instalments.

Currently, only those farmers are receiving PM-Kisan benefits whose land records are updated on the PM-Kisan portal, whose bank accounts are linked with Aadhaar, and whose eKYC process is fully completed.