The Chief Minister's Office of Uttar Pradesh announced on Monday, 22 June 2026, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has transferred more than ₹4,300 crore directly into the bank accounts of farmers in Uttar Pradesh under the 23rd instalment of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. The post, attributed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, stated in Hindi: 'इसकी 23वीं किस्त के अंतर्गत अकेले उत्तर प्रदेश के अन्नदाता किसानों के खातों में ₹4,300 करोड़ से अधिक की राशि सीधे हस्तांतरित की गई है' — meaning, 'Under the 23rd instalment alone, more than ₹4,300 crore has been directly transferred into the accounts of the annadata (food-provider) farmers of Uttar Pradesh.'

Context

PM-KISAN is a central government scheme that provides ₹6,000 per year in direct income support to eligible landholding farmer families, paid in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 each. The scheme was launched in February 2019, with the first instalment covering the period April–July 2019. Funds are transferred directly to beneficiary bank accounts, bypassing intermediaries and minimising leakages. The 23rd instalment marks a continued cadence of disbursements under the programme, which has now run for over seven years. The direct benefit transfer model was adopted specifically to ensure that agricultural support reaches cultivators without diversion.

Policy Backdrop

Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state and consistently accounts for one of the largest shares of PM-KISAN payouts nationally, owing to its extensive agricultural base and high density of small and marginal farmers. The state's farm sector supports a significant portion of its rural population, making central income-support transfers particularly consequential here. Successive central governments have expanded the direct benefit transfer architecture across welfare programmes to reduce administrative friction and improve last-mile delivery. PM-KISAN represents one of the flagship applications of this model in the agricultural sector.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are Uttar Pradesh's landholding farmer families, often referred to in official communications as annadata. The ₹4,300 crore figure cited by the Chief Minister's Office represents the state's share of the 23rd instalment, reflecting the scale of UP's cultivator population relative to other states. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has consistently used official communications to highlight central welfare transfers to the state, framing them as evidence of coordinated governance between Lucknow and New Delhi. The direct-to-account mechanism also allows state and central administrations to track disbursement in real time.

What's Next

With the 23rd instalment now released, attention will turn to subsequent PM-KISAN disbursements and whether the state government announces any complementary agricultural support measures in the next state budget cycle. The scale of per-instalment transfers to Uttar Pradesh is likely to remain a focal point in political messaging ahead of any upcoming electoral or policy milestones. Broader questions around PM-KISAN's coverage — including whether tenant farmers and agricultural labourers without land titles benefit — continue to shape the policy debate around farm welfare in India.