Union Coal and Mines Minister and BJP Telangana president G. Kishan Reddy on Saturday, June 20, 2026, welcomed the release of the 23rd instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, calling it a 'significant boost to the welfare of our Annadatas.' Prime Minister Narendra Modi disbursed over ₹18,880 crore directly into the bank accounts of 9.44 crore farmers across India through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism.

Context

Reddy's post described the disbursal as a reaffirmation of the government's 'steadfast commitment to empowering farmers through income support, enhanced agricultural infrastructure, technology-driven solutions, better market access, and welfare-focused reforms.' The instalment was transferred in a single exercise, underscoring the scale of the DBT infrastructure now in place. The minister referred to farmers as Annadatas — a term meaning 'providers of food' — invoking the cultural and economic centrality of agriculture to India's identity.

Policy Backdrop

PM-KISAN was launched in February 2019 to provide eligible landholding farmer families with an annual income support of ₹6,000, paid in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 each. The scheme operates entirely through Direct Benefit Transfer, routing funds straight to verified bank accounts to eliminate intermediaries and reduce leakages — a model the central government has expanded across dozens of welfare programmes since 2014. Successive instalment releases have become landmark policy events, with each disbursal cycle refreshing the political salience of farmer income support ahead of state and national elections.

The scheme sits within a broader agricultural policy framework that includes infrastructure investment, market linkage reforms, and technology adoption under the Atmanirbhar Bharat agenda. PM-KISAN is widely regarded as the anchor programme of that framework, given its direct and measurable cash transfer to farming households.

Stakeholders and Impact

The 9.44 crore farmer beneficiaries who received the 23rd instalment represent a substantial share of India's agricultural households, spread across states with widely varying farm sizes and cropping patterns. The ₹18,880 crore released in this single tranche is among the largest single-day DBT disbursals under the scheme, reflecting both the expanded beneficiary base and the government's continued prioritisation of farmer welfare spending. For individual families, the instalment provides a predictable, if modest, income floor that supplements earnings from crop sales.

Telangana, where Reddy serves as BJP state president, has a significant farming population and has historically been a focus of competing farmer welfare narratives between the central and state governments. His amplification of the PM-KISAN release carries both a welfare signal and a political one in that context.

What's Next

With the 23rd instalment now released, attention will turn to whether the government expands the annual support quantum beyond ₹6,000 — a demand that farmer organisations and opposition parties have repeatedly raised. Parliamentary scrutiny of scheme coverage gaps, including exclusions of tenant farmers and sharecroppers, is also expected to intensify. The next Union Budget will be a key indicator of whether PM-KISAN's allocation is revised upward or the programme is restructured to widen its reach.