PM-KISAN 24th Instalment Pays Rs 18,690 Crore to Farmers

The Union government released the 24th instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) on 30 October 2026 from Banaskantha in Gujarat. More than 9.34 crore farmers received about Rs 18,690 crore in one transfer, and the money went straight into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts through the Direct Benefit Transfer route, which keeps intermediaries out of the payment chain.

What the scheme pays

PM-KISAN is a centrally sponsored scheme that began on 24 February 2019. Every eligible landholding farmer family receives Rs 6,000 a year, paid in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000. The money is meant for seeds, fertiliser, irrigation and farm machinery, so that a small cultivator need not borrow informally before a sowing season. The scheme is described as a step towards Annadata Samman.

Money paid out so far

With this instalment the scheme has paid more than Rs 4.64 lakh crore in all, spread over 24 instalments. The Union Budget for 2026-27 set aside Rs 60,000 crore for PM-KISAN. In July 2026 the Union Cabinet cleared the continuation of the scheme from 2026-27 to 2030-31 with a financial outlay of Rs 3.15 lakh crore, fixing the support for another five years.

How a payment travels

A farmer registers on the PM-KISAN portal, through the mobile app or at a Common Service Centre. The state government verifies the claim and uploads the beneficiary record, after which Aadhaar and bank details are validated and ineligible applicants are screened out. The approved data goes to the Public Financial Management System, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare issues the sanction order, and sponsor banks along with the National Payments Corporation of India push the amount into the account.

Checks built into the scheme

Land records must be seeded on the portal, the bank account must be linked to Aadhaar and e-KYC must be completed before any payment is made. State governments keep the beneficiary database and display the eligible list in each village, which lets a farmer left out by mistake ask to be added. PM-KISAN is counted among the biggest direct benefit transfer programmes anywhere in the world.