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Some states like Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat have banned four prominent insurance firms – SBI General Insurance, Tata AIG, Shriram General Insurance and UIIC — from participating in the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) for one or more seasons, reports Centre in a Parliamentary session.
Some state governments have even slapped interest penalty on the Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AIC Ltd), Cholamandalam-MS General Insurance Company, ICICI-Lombard General Insurance Company, New India Assurance Company, and SBI General Insurance Company.
To ensure that farmers pay less premium and get full and early settlement of the claims, the PMFBY was launched in January 2016.
In a written statement, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar shared that the government had received some complaints against insurance firms about non-payment and delayed payment of claims during the implementation stage of the scheme.
“Most of the complaints were suitably addressed by the concerned state government, insurer and the ministry. Yield data disputes between states and insurance companies are settled by referring the matter to the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) by the state or insurance companies,” he said.
According to the revised guidelines of PMFBY, insurance companies have to pay penal interest at 12 percent per annum to farmers for the late settlement of claims subject to certain conditions.
