This document discusses expectations for the use of innovative technologies under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) agricultural insurance scheme in India. It outlines key features of PMFBY including premium rates, sum insured amounts, covered crops, and provisions for mid-season payments and post-harvest losses. The document emphasizes using technologies like smartphones, remote sensing, digitized land records, and drones to improve farmers' enrollment, claims processing, and loss assessments. It provides examples of initiatives taken in Kharif 2016 and suggests standardizing proxies, building capacity, and piloting categorized loss settlements in some districts.

1. Expectations from Insurance Industry:
Innovative approaches and
Technologies under PMFBY
Ashok K Yadav
Agriculture Insurance Co. of India Ltd.

2. 2
PMFBY - Key Features
 Premium rates for farmers: Kharif 2%, Rabi 1.5% and AC/AH Crops - 5%
 Sum Insured – District Level Technical Committee approved Scale of
Finance
 Covers all Food crops, Oilseeds & Annual Commercial/Annual
Horticultural Crops
 Available to all Farmers - compulsory for borrowing & optional for non-
borrowing
 Scheme operates on Area approach for wide spread calamity viz drought
 Individual farm level loss assessment for Hailstorm, Landslide and
Inundation damages
 Covers Post harvest losses at individual farm level for crop left in ‘cut &
spread’ for drying due to cyclonic and unseasonal rains
 Covers prevented/failed sowing
 Provision for on-account payment in case of mid season calamities to
crops

3. PMFBY Guidelines
The scheme emphasises on “Use of Innovative
Technologies” for the implementation of the
scheme.
Technologies mentioned are:
1. Smart phones (Mobile app) /hand held devices
2. Remote sensing technology (satellite imagery)
3. Digitization of land records
4. Digitization of cadastral map
5. UAVs

4. Expectations from Insurance Industry
• Detailed Information easily accessible:
 Notification
 Premium Calculation
• Farmers’ enrolment :
 Online
 Through App
• Upload Individual farmer insurance data on Agri-
Insurance portal / Co. portal:
Cover Note
Various Reports

5. Expectations from Insurance Industry
• Use RST for :
Acreage Estimation
Sowing Failure
Crop Monitoring
Mid-season Adversity (On-Account Payment)
Yield Estimation – Smart Sampling, etc.
• Individual field assessment : using RST , UAVs
Localised Calamities
Post-Harvest Losses
• CCE witnessing through mobile App / smart phone
• Prompt Claim Assessment and settlement
electronically

6. Initiatives taken during Kharif 2016
Government:
• MoAFW: CCE Agri Android based mobile app for
conducting CCEs
• Real time data transfer to MoAFW Agri-Insurance portal
• Adopted partially by few states viz: AP, BR, GJ, JHK,
MH, UP, WB, etc
• Insurance companies used Mobile App for CCE
witnessing and individual loss assessment
• Satellite imagery for area estimation and crop monitoring
• UAV for crop monitoring

7. PMFBY – technology scenario
• Its doable and technology is available.
• All the suggested technology interventions experimented
– Wheat insurance (NDVI based )
– Mobile app for CCE auditing
– Acreage estimation
– Satellite imagery and smart sampling FOR CCEs
– Village Level Index Insurance , Maharashtra (RST, UAV
plus yield models)
– Remote Sensing-Based Information and Insurance for
Crops in Emerging Economies (RIICE): Tamil Nadu
– Mobile app, geo tagging, loss classification - Karnataka

8. Expectations of Insurance Industry
• Standardisation of proxy-indicators and guidelines viz.
remote sensed data and other auxiliary variables
• Capacity building
• Awareness/ Training to stakeholders
• Coordination between States and Institutions
• Integrated and Centralised data bases and information
products with access to stakeholders
• Proactive approach for building agricultural intelligence
• Setting up Certification Agency for data authentication

9. Suggestions
• Use model derived data from Product
development to Claim settlement
• Categorization of losses: Low, Medium, High,
Extreme and claim settlement accordingly
• These may be Piloted in few districts
• Research projects to the S&T institutions to
meet the medium and long term
requirements

10. Thank you