How to apply for PMSBY and PMJJBY — complete 2026 guide

As of March 2026, PMSBY had 47 crore enrolments and PMJJBY had 22 crore enrolments (Ministry of Finance Lok Sabha reply). Cumulative claims paid: PMSBY ₹3,400 crore to ~1.7 lakh families; PMJJBY ₹17,000 crore to ~8.5 lakh families. The single biggest reason claims fail is lapsed cover due to insufficient balance on 1 June — keep ₹500 in the account in May.

The Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) are India's flagship micro-insurance schemes — both launched on 9 May 2015 by the Ministry of Finance under the Jan Suraksha umbrella (alongside the Atal Pension Yojana — see Apply Atal Pension Yojana).

• PMSBY is a personal accident insurance scheme. Cover ₹2 lakh for accidental death or permanent total disability; ₹1 lakh for permanent partial disability (loss of one eye, one hand, one foot etc.). It does not cover natural-cause death or sickness.
• PMJJBY is a term life insurance scheme. Cover ₹2 lakh on any cause of death — natural or accidental — subject to a 30-day waiting period for natural-cause death after first enrolment (no waiting period for accidental death).

The legal framework:

• Both schemes notified by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services in Notifications dated 9 May 2015.
• Underwritten by LIC and other public-sector general insurers (along with private insurers tied up with private banks).
• Regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) under the Insurance Act 1938 and the IRDAI Act 1999.
• Premium revised in May 2022: PMSBY ₹12 → ₹20; PMJJBY ₹330 → ₹436.

Both schemes are renewable annually. They are not investment products — they are pure protection covers. There is no maturity benefit; if no claim, no money comes back.

• Age: 18 to 70 years.
• Must hold a savings bank account in India.
• One PMSBY policy per person (across all banks). If you accidentally enrol twice, only one premium is debited and only one cover is valid.
• Aadhaar is the primary KYC — must be linked to the bank account.

• Age (fresh enrolment): 18 to 50 years.
• Renewal allowed up to age 55 — meaning if you enrolled before turning 50, you can keep renewing up to your 55th birthday, after which cover automatically ceases.
• Must hold a savings bank account in India.
• Self-declared good health at time of enrolment (no medical examination — but if you misdeclare and die from a pre-existing condition within the first year, the claim can be repudiated).
• One PMJJBY policy per person.

If you have multiple savings accounts in different banks, enrol through only one bank (your most-used bank, where the balance is steady). The first premium debit “wins”; later enrolments are auto-cancelled.

+----------------+--------------------------+------------------+
| Scheme         | Cover                    | Premium / year   |
+----------------+--------------------------+------------------+
| PMSBY          | Accidental death:  ₹2L   | ₹20              |
| (accident)     | Permanent total          |                  |
|                |   disability:      ₹2L   |                  |
|                | Permanent partial        |                  |
|                |   disability:      ₹1L   |                  |
+----------------+--------------------------+------------------+
| PMJJBY         | Death (any cause):  ₹2L  | ₹436             |
| (life)         | Subject to 30-day        |                  |
|                | waiting period for       |                  |
|                | natural-cause death      |                  |
+----------------+--------------------------+------------------+
| TOTAL                                       ₹4 lakh    ₹456 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

Premium is auto-debited from your savings account on 1 June each year (the policy year is 1 June to 31 May). If you enrol mid-year, the first debit happens immediately and is prorated for the months remaining till 31 May; thereafter all debits are on 1 June.

• Your bank branch — every bank participating in the scheme has a “PMSBY/PMJJBY” form at the counter. Walk-in, fill, sign, attach Aadhaar copy.
• Bank's mobile app or net banking — most major banks (SBI YONO, HDFC, ICICI iMobile, Axis, Kotak, PNB, BoB, Canara) have a “Insurance” or “Jan Suraksha” menu where you can enrol in 5 minutes.
• Common Service Centre (CSC) in rural areas — the CSC operator helps fill the form and uploads it to the linked bank.
• NGOs and Bank Mitras — many NGOs run enrolment camps (this is how Sushila enrolled).

Choose the savings account where your salary / regular income lands. The auto-debit on 1 June must succeed every year — pick the account with the most reliable balance. Do not pick a dormant or no-frills account.

• In-branch: Ask the counter staff for the PMSBY consent-cum-declaration form and the PMJJBY consent-cum-declaration form (separate forms for each scheme).
• In-app (SBI YONO example): Login → “Insurance” → “PMSBY” / “PMJJBY” → “Enrol”.
• Net banking: Login → “e-Services” → “Social Security Schemes” → choose scheme.

You need to provide:

• Full name (as in Aadhaar).
• Bank account number (auto-filled in app).
• Nominee name + relationship + DOB + Aadhaar (CRITICAL — this is who receives the claim).
• Mobile + email.
• Health declaration (PMJJBY only): simple Yes/No questions on whether you are currently suffering from cancer, AIDS, kidney/liver failure, etc. Answer truthfully — false answers void the policy.
• Auto-debit consent: “I authorise the bank to debit ₹20 / ₹436 from my account on the renewal date.”

• In-branch: Counter stamp on duplicate copy. Keep this carefully — it's your enrolment proof.
• In-app: Screenshot the confirmation page; the bank will email a Certificate of Insurance within 7 days. The Certificate has the Master Policy Number and your Member Number — quote these in any future claim.

• For mid-year enrolment, the prorated premium is debited within 24-48 hours.
• For renewals, the full year premium is debited on 1 June.
• The insurer (LIC for PMJJBY at most PSU banks; public-sector general insurer for PMSBY) sends a welcome letter / Certificate of Insurance by email or post.

• PMSBY: Cover starts immediately on activation date. No waiting period for accidental death/disability.
• PMJJBY: Cover for accidental death starts immediately. Cover for natural-cause death starts only after 30 days from activation (the “lien period”).

• Each year on 1 June, the bank attempts auto-debit of ₹20 (PMSBY) and ₹436 (PMJJBY).
• If the balance is below ₹500, the debit fails and the policy lapses — no cover from that day.
• Best practice: top up the account to ₹1,000 in the last week of May. Set a calendar reminder for 25 May every year.

If the policy holder dies or is disabled:

• Within 30 days of the event, the nominee approaches the same bank branch where enrolled.
• Documents:
  • PMSBY: original/attested death certificate + FIR (for accident) + post-mortem report (for accidental death) + disability certificate (for disability claim) + claim form + nominee's KYC + bank passbook.
  • PMJJBY: original/attested death certificate + claim form + nominee's KYC + bank passbook + (if enrolment was within last year) any health declaration related documents.
• Bank verifies, forwards to insurer.
• Settlement target: 30 days from receipt at insurer; in practice 30-60 days.

+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| PMSBY annual premium               | ₹20                               |
| PMJJBY annual premium              | ₹436                              |
| Total annual outgo (both schemes)  | ₹456                              |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| PMSBY benefit on accidental death  | ₹2,00,000                         |
| PMSBY benefit on permanent total   | ₹2,00,000                         |
|   disability                       |                                   |
| PMSBY benefit on permanent partial | ₹1,00,000                         |
|   disability                       |                                   |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| PMJJBY benefit (any cause death)   | ₹2,00,000                         |
| PMJJBY waiting period (natural)    | 30 days from activation            |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Total cover (both schemes)         | ₹4,00,000                         |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Renewal date                       | 1 June each year                   |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Settlement SLA (insurer)           | 30 days (target); 60 days (max)    |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| RTI to PIO (PSU bank / IRDAI)      | ₹10 by IPO. BPL = free.           |
+-----------------------------------+------------------------------------+

• Bank account dormant — no transactions for 24 months. Auto-debit fails. Policy lapses. Visit branch with Aadhaar to revive the account before 1 June.
• Insufficient balance on 1 June — the most common reason for cover lapse. Bank doesn't retry; the policy quietly dies until next year's enrolment.
• Age limit crossed — PMJJBY renewal denied automatically after 55th birthday. PMSBY renewal denied after 70th birthday. The bank doesn't always refund the wrongly-debited premium; you must demand it.
• Aadhaar not linked / KYC incomplete — claim repudiated for “KYC mismatch”. Update KYC at branch first.
• Policy not in force on date of event — gap year (premium not debited last year) means no cover this year. Insurers reject.
• 30-day PMJJBY waiting period — death within first 30 days from natural causes is not covered. Only accidental death is covered immediately.
• Nominee mismatch — if no nominee was filled at enrolment, the claim goes through legal succession (much slower). Always declare a nominee at enrolment.
• Multiple enrolments — second/third enrolment is invalid; premium debited on the second/third bank is refundable but you must claim it back.
• Health misdeclaration on PMJJBY — death in first year from a declared-but-pre-existing condition leads to repudiation.

• 90% of claim issues are bank-side: missing form, premium debit history not pulled, scanned documents not forwarded to insurer.
• Ask for the Branch Manager in writing; quote your Member Number and Master Policy Number.

• PMJJBY at PSU bank: LIC of India — claim address printed on the Certificate of Insurance.
• PMSBY at PSU bank: New India Assurance / United India / Oriental / National Insurance — depends on your bank's tie-up.
• Walk into the insurer's nearest divisional office or email the claims address with all documents.

• https://bimabharosa.irdai.gov.in — IRDAI's integrated grievance portal.
• Register, log a complaint with policy number, date of event, brief facts, and upload key documents.
• SLA: 14 days for insurer reply; escalation to IRDAI consumer affairs cell if unresolved.

• https://www.cioins.co.in — 17 Insurance Ombudsmen across India, jurisdiction by state/region.
• Eligible if claim is for less than ₹50 lakh and at least 30 days have passed since insurer's reply (or no reply for 30 days).
• No fee. Award is binding on the insurer up to ₹30 lakh; partial deviation requires Ombudsman's reasoning.

• https://pgportal.gov.in → Ministry “Finance” → “Department of Financial Services” → category “Jan Suraksha”.

PSU banks (SBI, PNB, BoB, Canara, etc.), LIC of India, and IRDAI are all public authorities under §2(h) of the RTI Act 2005. The Supreme Court confirmed LIC's status in Reserve Bank of India v. Jayantilal N. Mistry (2015).

RTI helps here when:

• Premium was debited on 1 June but Certificate of Insurance never came — RTI to PSU bank PIO for the debit confirmation + insurer-side acknowledgement reference.
• Claim was repudiated by the insurer with a vague one-liner — RTI to LIC PIO for the calculation sheet and the dealing officer's name and order.
• Bank says “premium debit failed in May 2024” but you had ₹2,000 in the account — RTI for the transaction log of that month.
• Nominee details on insurer's side don't match what you submitted — RTI for a certified copy of the original consent form as held by the insurer.

See the dedicated guide: RTI for bank / life-insurance claim — copy-ready template.

RTI does NOT help here when:

• You want to challenge the 30-day waiting period for PMJJBY natural-cause death — it's a scheme rule notified by MoF. RTI cannot waive it; only courts can rule on its constitutionality.
• You want PMSBY to pay for a non-accident sickness death — PMSBY only covers accidents; RTI cannot expand the cover.
• You want PMJJBY to pay above ₹2 lakh — the cover is fixed at ₹2 lakh by notification; for higher cover you need a regular term insurance policy.
• You want a refund for a genuinely lapsed year — if you didn't have balance on 1 June and the policy lapsed, no claim or refund is possible. RTI can confirm the lapse but not unwind it.
• For claim status enquiry within 30 days of filing — wait for the SLA to expire. PIOs treat premature RTIs as misuse.

Q. Can I enrol my non-earning spouse?
Yes — open a Jan Dhan / regular savings account in her name first (she needs her own bank account), then enrol her in both schemes from her account. Premium ₹456/year debited from her account.

Q. Can I have both PMSBY and a private term-life policy?
Yes — there is no exclusivity. Many people use PMJJBY (₹2 lakh) as a small “family-burial expense” cover and add a separate ₹1 crore term policy from a private insurer for real income replacement.

Q. What is “permanent total disability” under PMSBY?
Loss of both eyes, both hands, both feet, OR one eye + one hand + one foot in any combination — making the person unable to earn a livelihood. Certified by a government civil surgeon.

Q. The bank deducted ₹436 on 1 June 2025 but my husband died on 25 May 2025. Will PMJJBY pay?
Yes — for the 2024-25 policy year which was active till 31 May 2025. Death occurred on 25 May, within the active cover period. Submit claim immediately; the 1 June 2025 debit is for the (now irrelevant) next year — bank will refund or insurer will adjust.

Q. I am 52 — too old for fresh PMJJBY enrolment. What can I do?
You can still enrol in PMSBY (age limit 70). For life cover, look at LIC's Saral Jeevan Bima or a private insurer's term plan suitable for your age — premiums will be higher.

Q. I changed banks last year. Will my old PMJJBY continue?
Only if the old bank account is still active and has balance on 1 June. If you've closed the old account, the policy lapses. Re-enrol from the new bank.

Q. Are PMSBY and PMJJBY taxable on payout?
No — death benefits and disability benefits under both schemes are fully exempt from income tax under §10(10D) of the Income Tax Act.

Q. Can NRIs enrol?
No — these schemes are limited to resident Indians with NRO/NRE accounts not covered. NRIs must look at private term insurance.

Q. The bank executive enrolled me without my consent, and ₹456 has been debited. What now?
Write a complaint to the Branch Manager + Banking Ombudsman + IRDAI Bima Bharosa. The premium is refundable if you cancel within 30 days of debit (Free Look Period as per IRDAI guidelines).

• Apply Atal Pension Yojana — sibling Jan Suraksha pension scheme
• File an insurance complaint at IRDAI Bima Bharosa
• RTI for bank / life-insurance claim — copy-ready template
• RTI in 12 simple steps — for first-time filers
• All Indian government helplines — one master directory
• RTI forms + state-wise fee chart

Last reviewed: 26 April 2026 by RTI Wiki editorial team. Premiums and age caps for PMSBY / PMJJBY are revised periodically by the Ministry of Finance — verify current rates on the Jan Suraksha portal or your bank's website. Write to admin@bighelpers.in if you spot a stale figure.