Insurers ‘profiting’, farmers losing under crop scheme: INLD’s Sampat Singh

Hisar: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) national patron and former Haryana finance minister Sampat Singh on Sunday criticised the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), alleging that the govt and private insurance companies were making substantial profits while farmers continued to suffer crop losses and inadequate compensation.Addressing public meetings in several villages of the Nalwa assembly constituency in Hisar district, Singh said insurance companies in Haryana collected premiums worth Rs 2,827.02 crore between 2023 and 2025 but paid only Rs 731 crore to farmers as compensation for crop damage.He alleged that private insurers were "profiting heavily" from the scheme at the expense of farmers and public funds.Citing official data, he said that in the financial year 2025 alone, insurance companies collected premiums of Rs 1,003.68 crore in Haryana, while claims worth only Rs 95 crore were paid, leaving a surplus of Rs 908.68 crore.Referring to figures from the Union ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, he claimed that private insurance companies had earned profits of around Rs 2,096 crore in the state over the past three years.Singh said the disparity was even larger at the national level. Between 2023 and 2025, insurance companies collected premiums totalling Rs 82,015.52 crore under the crop insurance scheme across India, while claims worth Rs 34,799 crore were paid to farmers.He suggested that any surplus generated by govt insurance companies under the scheme should be returned to farmers through a transparent mechanism.