Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, 20 June 2026, released the 23rd instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme from Hooghly, West Bengal, channelling direct benefit transfers to crores of farmer families across the country.

Context

Posting on X in Hindi, Prime Minister Modi said: 'देशभर के अपने अन्नदाताओं के कल्याण और सशक्तिकरण के लिए हम संकल्पबद्ध हैं' ('We are committed to the welfare and empowerment of our farmers across the country'). He described it as a privilege — 'सौभाग्य' — to release the instalment from Hooghly, adding that the transfer would provide 'economic support to crores of farmer families and bring greater prosperity to their lives.'

The event in Hooghly continues a pattern of the central government staging PM-KISAN releases from different states, a practice designed to underscore the scheme's pan-India reach and the administration's direct engagement with farmers at the grassroots level.

Policy Backdrop

PM-KISAN was formally launched on 24 February 2019 as a central sector scheme providing eligible landholding farmer families with Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each, disbursed directly into beneficiary bank accounts via the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism. The scheme was subsequently expanded in 2019 to cover all farmer families irrespective of landholding size, after initial eligibility criteria were revised.

The scheme sits at the centre of the government's agricultural welfare architecture, which has increasingly relied on DBT channels to eliminate intermediaries and ensure funds reach intended recipients without leakage. PM-KISAN instalments are tracked and released through a dedicated portal, with each cycle covering tens of millions of registered farmers.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are small and marginal farmers — a demographic that constitutes the majority of India's agricultural workforce and is particularly dependent on timely income support to manage input costs such as seeds, fertilisers, and irrigation ahead of sowing seasons. Each instalment of Rs 2,000, while modest, is timed to align broadly with cropping cycles to maximise its utility.

West Bengal, where the release event was held, has had a complex history with the scheme, with previous disputes over beneficiary data-sharing between the state government and the Centre. Holding the event in Hooghly carries both administrative and political symbolism, signalling the Centre's outreach to farmers in a state governed by a rival party.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the forthcoming Union Budget and whether the government proposes any revision to the annual benefit amount of Rs 6,000 — a figure that has remained unchanged since the scheme's launch in 2019 — or to eligibility norms. Farm groups and opposition parties have periodically called for the per-family transfer to be increased in line with rising input costs. The next scheduled instalment cycle and any changes to the PM-KISAN portal's registration process will also be closely watched by state agricultural departments.