A financial benefit of Rs 21,924 crore has been transferred into bank accounts of 10.26 crore eligible farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme in this fiscal so far, the government said on Tuesday.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to eligible farmer families, payable in three equal installments of Rs 2,000. The fund is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said Rs 21,924 crore was transferred till July 17 of the ongoing 2022-23 financial year.

Out of which, Rs 5,063.25 crore was transferred to eligible farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Rs 2,053 crore in Maharashtra, Rs 1,684 crore in Bihar and Rs 1,680 crore in Madhya Pradesh so far this fiscal, as per the data placed in the Lower House.

During the launch year of 2020-21, the government had transferred Rs 55,101 crore to 9.71 crore eligible farmers under the PM-KISAN. In 2021-22 fiscal, Rs 66,483 crore was released to 10.64 crore farmers under the scheme.

Tomar said release of financial benefits under PM-KISAN is a continuous and ongoing process. The benefits under the scheme are released after the receipt of the correct and verified data from the respective state governments.

The PM-KISAN scheme covers all landholding farmer families, irrespective of the size of their landholding, subject to certain exclusion criteria related to higher income groups.

As per the Operational Guidelines of the Scheme, the entire responsibility of identification of beneficiaries rests with the respective State/UT Governments.

PM-KISAN portal has been integrated with UIDAI, PFMS, Income tax portals and Pensioners & Employee Record for validation/weeding out of ineligible beneficiaries. Benefits passed on to ineligible beneficiaries are recovered by respective state governments after due verification, the minister added.