PM-KISAN installment stuck? RTI to fix it

Sunita owns about one and a half bigha of cultivable land in her own name in a drought-prone village in Barmer, western Rajasthan. Her family was enrolled in PM-KISAN in 2020. For five years the money arrived like clockwork — Rs 2,000 every four months, quietly, into her Aadhaar-seeded bank account. She used it for seed, urea and the occasional diesel pump rental.

Then it stopped. The 22nd installment, released by the Centre on 13 March 2026, never reached her. The 23rd installment, released on 20 June 2026, also did not come. Together that is Rs 4,000 missing — a real sum for a marginal farmer family. The PM-KISAN portal's “Know Your Status” page shows the 22nd installment as “FTO generated”, but there is no bank credit. Her eKYC shows done. Her Aadhaar is seeded. From the village level there is nobody who can say what the hold-up is.

Sunita's story is not unusual. Across India, over 9.44 crore farmer families received the 23rd installment on 20 June 2026 — but a thin tail of beneficiaries always finds their money stuck at one of four or five named checkpoints: land-seeding broken, Aadhaar-name mismatch, eKYC pending, or the bank account not mapped to NPCI for DBT. The money is not lost. It is parked, waiting for a record to match. The Right to Information Act, 2005 lets you walk that record into the open. This guide shows you exactly how, using only verified facts about PM-KISAN as it stands in 2026.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is a Central Sector scheme, 100% funded by the Government of India, operational since 01 December 2018 (launched 24 February 2019). It pays Rs 6,000 per year to every eligible landholder farmer family, in three equal installments of Rs 2,000 each, every four months. The three cycles are April-July, August-November and December-March.

A “farmer family” under the scheme means the husband, wife and minor children who own cultivable land as per the state or UT land records. The benefit is one per family even if the family's landholdings are spread across villages, districts or states — the maximum is Rs 6,000 a year per family, no matter how many parcels.

The scheme was revised on 21 June 2019. The earlier two-hectare land ceiling was removed — there is now no land-size cap. The cut-off date for establishing land ownership is 01 February 2019, valid for five years, with succession allowed on death after that date. Tenant farmers, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers whose name does not appear in the land records are not eligible — ownership in your own name in the revenue record is mandatory. NRIs are not eligible; only Indian citizens residing in India qualify.

The Union Budget 2026-27 kept the allocation at Rs 60,000 crore and the benefit amount unchanged at Rs 6,000. As of the 23rd installment (20 June 2026), the cumulative disbursed since launch has crossed Rs 4.46 lakh crore. The 23rd installment alone transferred over Rs 18,880 crore to more than 9.44 crore farmers, including about 2.18 crore women.

The scheme is run by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, housed at Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi-110001. The PM-KISAN portal (pmkisan.gov.in) is built and maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Payments move as Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts, routed through PFMS Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs).

One naming trap to avoid. On the rtionline.gov.in dropdown, the public authority may still appear under the older label “Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare” — because Cooperation was hived off into a separate Ministry of Cooperation in 2021. The current 2026 name is Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Pick whichever label the RTI portal shows you; both route to the same Central Public Information Officer at Krishi Bhavan.

To ask a sharp question, you need to know how the installment reaches you. The chain has five links, and each one can break:

1. Link 1 — Land record. Your name, khasra/survey number and cultivable area must be in your state's Record of Rights (RoR), seeded into the PM-KISAN beneficiary database. If a mutation, subdivision or name-spelling change is not yet reflected, the seeding match fails.
2. Link 2 — Aadhaar seeding. Your Aadhaar must be linked to the PM-KISAN record and to an active bank account. If the name in the land record differs even slightly from the name on Aadhaar, the match breaks.
3. Link 3 — NPCI mapping. Your Aadhaar must be mapped to your bank account in the NPCI mapper so that DBT can be routed. If you changed banks and did not re-map, the credit goes nowhere.
4. Link 4 — eKYC. OTP, biometric or face authentication eKYC is mandatory. Until it is done, payment is withheld. If online OTP eKYC fails, a biometric eKYC at a CSC centre is the fallback.
5. Link 5 — PFMS FTO and credit. Once the beneficiary record is clean, DA&FW raises a PFMS Fund Transfer Order and the money lands in your account. “FTO generated” on the portal means the order has been raised — it does not mean the credit has happened.

The Government of India also cross-checks the beneficiary list against income-tax, employee and pension databases. If a name pops up there, the installment is temporarily withheld pending physical verification. That is why an eligible farmer can suddenly stop receiving money — and why only an RTI can name the exact link that broke.

Two things changed the PM-KISAN picture in 2026 that you should reflect in your RTI.

First, the 22nd and 23rd installments are now live. The 22nd installment was released on 13 March 2026 from Guwahati, Assam — over Rs 18,640 crore to more than 9.32 crore farmers. The 23rd installment was released on 20 June 2026 from Tarakeswar, Hooghly in West Bengal — over Rs 18,880 crore to more than 9.44 crore farmers, including about 2.18 crore women. If you missed either, your RTI should quote the exact installment number and release date so the PIO cannot say “no such installment was released”.

Second, the exclusion database is more aggressive. The Government cross-matches PM-KISAN beneficiaries against the income-tax, Central and State government employee, and pensioner databases more tightly than before. A farmer who crossed into an exclusion category — for example, a family member who got a regular government job, or who paid income tax in the last assessment year — will see installments stop without any notice. The exclusion list, from Section 4 of the Revised Operational Guidelines (21.06.2019, still current), covers: institutional landholders; present or former constitutional post holders; present or former Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Mayors and District Panchayat Chairpersons; serving or retired Central/State government employees including PSUs and autonomous bodies (excluding MTS/Class IV/Group D); retired pensioners drawing Rs 10,000 a month or more (excluding MTS/Class IV/Group D); persons who paid income tax in the last assessment year; and registered professionals — Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants and Architects — practising under professional bodies.

If your installment stopped after a family member joined government service or filed an income-tax return, the cause is almost certainly an exclusion trigger. Your RTI should ask for the specific exclusion ground invoked and the source database — that is the only way to confirm or challenge it.

You will usually file one Central RTI to DA&FW, and optionally one State RTI to your District Agriculture Officer or State Nodal Officer if the hold-up is in the land record. Filing both in parallel prevents the Central desk from saying “ask the state” and the state from saying “ask Delhi”.

Step 1 — Identify the public authority.

1. Central: Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi-110001. File through rtionline.gov.in (the DoPT Central RTI portal). On the portal dropdown, pick “Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare” if that is what shows — it routes to the same CPIO.
2. State: Your District Agriculture Officer or the State Nodal Officer (PM-KISAN) for your state. The state-level nodal officers are listed on the pmkisan.gov.in Contacts page. File through your State RTI portal or by hand at the district office.

Step 2 — Prepare your identifying details. Have these ready before you write a single question, because the PIO cannot trace your file without them:

1. PM-KISAN Beneficiary ID (from the portal “Know Your Status” page).
2. Last four digits of your Aadhaar. Never write the full Aadhaar number.
3. Last four digits of your bank account.
4. Khasra or survey number and village, from your land record.
5. The installments you received last, and the installments you are missing (with release dates).

Step 3 — Draft your questions. Ask for specific, dated records, not vague “details”. Five to seven strong questions:

1. “Furnish the current beneficiary-record status for my PM-KISAN Beneficiary ID [ID], including the last installment credited and the next installment due.”
2. “Furnish the land-seeding status — the matched khasra/survey number, the date of seeding, and whether any revenue-record mutation or name change is pending re-seeding.”
3. “Furnish the Aadhaar-seeding and NPCI mapper status for my account, with the date last verified and the bank to which Aadhaar is currently mapped.”
4. “Furnish the eKYC completion status — method (OTP/biometric/face), date, and whether re-KYC is due.”
5. “Furnish the PFMS Fund Transfer Order reference number and date for the installment released on [13 March 2026 / 20 June 2026], against my Beneficiary ID.”
6. “If the installment has been withheld, furnish the specific hold reason and, if an exclusion category has been triggered, the ground and the source database on which the exclusion was based.”
7. “Furnish the name, designation and direct contact of the District Nodal Officer (PM-KISAN) and the First Appellate Authority for my district.”

Step 4 — Pay the fee and file. For the Central application, the fee is Rs 10, payable by Indian Postal Order, court-fee stamp, cash against receipt, or online through rtionline.gov.in by net banking, debit/credit card or UPI. BPL applicants are exempt on producing a BPL certificate. For the State application, the fee and mode vary by state rules — most states charge Rs 10 as well; check your state's RTI Rules. See RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your for the step-by-step online filing process and RTI Fees by State and Online Portal Directory (2026) for state-wise fee details.

Step 5 — Keep proof and wait 30 days. File by hand and take a stamped receiving copy, or send by registered post and keep the acknowledgement, or file online and save the registration number. The CPIO must reply within 30 days under Section 7(1) of the RTI Act (48 hours only where life or liberty is at stake, which PM-KISAN payment queries normally are not).

Use the free AI RTI Draft App at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html to turn the questions above into a ready-to-file Section 6(1) application with your details pre-filled. If the 30-day deadline is tight in your situation, the RTI Timeline Calculator at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/timeline-calculator-app.html will mark your exact reply-due date and first-appeal window on a calendar.

RTI is powerful because it has a built-in ladder. If the CPIO ignores you or gives a vague reply, you do not stop there.

1. First Appeal — Section 19(1): If no reply comes within 30 days, or you are unhappy with the reply, file a First Appeal with the First Appellate Authority (FAA) in the same department. Do this within 30 days of the expiry of the reply period. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45. Draft the appeal with the free First Appeal App at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/first-appeal-app.html.
2. Second Appeal — Section 19(3): If the FAA also fails you, file a Second Appeal with the Central Information Commission (for DA&FW) or your State Information Commission (for the State Nodal Officer), within 90 days of the FAA order. There is no fee for a second appeal to the Central Information Commission.
3. Complaint under Section 18: You can also file a direct complaint to the Information Commission if the CPIO never replied at all or refused to accept your application.

For PM-KISAN, the most common outcome is that the Central CPIO replies with the PFMS-side status and tells you the hold-up is in the state land record, while the State PIO replies with the land-seeding status and tells you the payment file is in Delhi. Filing both applications in parallel — and reading both replies together — gives you the full chain.

1. Copy of your PM-KISAN Beneficiary ID printout from the “Know Your Status” page.
2. Copy of your land record (RoR / 7-12 / khasra extract) showing your name as owner.
3. A printout of the portal page showing “FTO generated” or the last credited installment.
4. Proof of eKYC completion (a screenshot of the eKYC status page is enough).
5. BPL certificate, if you are claiming the fee waiver.
6. Indian Postal Order for Rs 10 (or the online payment reference number, if filing through rtionline.gov.in).

1. Writing the full Aadhaar number. The CPIO does not need it and you should not risk it. Give only the last four digits, plus your Beneficiary ID. The ID is the lookup key on the PM-KISAN portal.
2. Not quoting the Beneficiary ID. Without it the PIO cannot locate your file. Always put it in the subject line.
3. Filing only at the State Agriculture Department when the land record is fine. If your land-seeding is complete and eKYC is done, the hold-up is probably on the PFMS side in Delhi — file at DA&FW through rtionline.gov.in.
4. Filing only at DA&FW when the land record is broken. A mutation, name-spelling change or subdivision that is not yet re-seeded is a state revenue-record problem. The Central CPIO cannot fix it. File at the District Agriculture Officer too.
5. Asking vague questions. “Why did I not get my PM-KISAN money?” gets you a brochure. Ask for named, dated records — the FTO reference, the NPCI mapping date, the matched khasra number.
6. Forgetting the exclusion ground question. If an exclusion was triggered, the CPIO may not volunteer it. Ask explicitly: “If an exclusion category has been invoked, furnish the ground and the source database.”
7. Skipping the FTO reference. The PFMS Fund Transfer Order number is the ultimate proof of disbursement. Without it you cannot tell whether the money left Delhi or got stuck at the bank end.

To,
The Central Public Information Officer,
Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare,
Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi-110001

Subject: Information under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005,
regarding my PM-KISAN installment.

Sir/Madam,

I, [Full Name], resident of [Village, Block, District, State],
Indian citizen, submit this application under Section 6(1) of the
Right to Information Act, 2005. My particulars are:

PM-KISAN Beneficiary ID: [ID]
Aadhaar (last four digits only): XXXX
Bank account (last four digits): XXXX
Khasra / survey number: [number], Village: [name], District: [name]
Installments last received: 21st installment (December 2025 cycle)
Installments pending: 22nd (released 13 March 2026) and 23rd
(released 20 June 2026), Rs 2,000 each, total Rs 4,000

Please furnish the following information:

1. Current beneficiary-record status for my Beneficiary ID,
   including the last installment credited and the next due.
2. Land-seeding status — matched khasra/survey number, date of
   seeding, and whether any mutation, subdivision or name change
   is pending re-seeding in the revenue record.
3. Aadhaar-seeding and NPCI mapper status for my account, with
   the date last verified and the bank to which Aadhaar is
   currently mapped.
4. eKYC completion status — method (OTP/biometric/face), date
   last done, and whether re-KYC is due.
5. PFMS Fund Transfer Order reference number and date for the
   installment released on 13 March 2026, against my ID.
6. PFMS Fund Transfer Order reference number and date for the
   installment released on 20 June 2026, against my ID.
7. The specific reason the above installments have been withheld.
8. If an exclusion category under Section 4 of the PM-KISAN
   Operational Guidelines has been triggered, the ground and the
   source database on which the exclusion was based.
9. Estimated date of release of the pending installments.
10. Name, designation and direct contact of the District Nodal
    Officer (PM-KISAN) and the First Appellate Authority for my
    district.

I state that the information sought is not exempt under any of
the provisions of Section 8 or 9 of the RTI Act, 2005. I prefer
to receive the information by email at [email address] and by
post at the address above.

I have enclosed Indian Postal Order No. ________ for Rs 10
towards the application fee. I declare that I am an Indian
citizen and the information sought concerns my own entitlement
under a Government of India scheme.

Yours faithfully,

[Signature]
[Name]
[Date, Place]

If the CPIO's reply is vague or does not arrive within 30 days, file a First Appeal under Section 19(1) to the First Appellate Authority named in the reply (or in the CPIO's contact page), within 30 days of the deadline. Cite the registration number of your original application. If the FAA also fails, go to the Central Information Commission under Section 19(3) within 90 days. The PIO Reply Checker at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/pio-reply-checker-app.html will tell you whether the reply you got is legally adequate or worth appealing.

Three, of Rs 2,000 each, totalling Rs 6,000 per farmer family per year. The cycles are April-July, August-November and December-March. The installment is released on a single date nationally — for example, the 23rd installment was released on 20 June 2026 — and then credited to individual accounts over the following days as the PFMS FTOs are processed.

Initial seeding is done once when you are enrolled. But any change in the revenue record — a mutation after a death, a subdivision, a name-spelling correction — can break the match and require re-seeding. If you recently had a mutation entry made, that is the first place to look when an installment stops.

Institutional landholders; present and former constitutional post holders, Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Mayors and District Panchayat Chairpersons; serving and retired Central/State government employees including PSUs and autonomous bodies (excluding MTS/Class IV/Group D); retired pensioners drawing Rs 10,000 a month or more (excluding MTS/Class IV/Group D); persons who paid income tax in the last assessment year; and registered professionals — Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants and Architects — practising under professional bodies. The full list is in Section 4 of the Revised Operational Guidelines, 21.06.2019.

No. Ownership of cultivable land in your own name in the state or UT land records is mandatory. Tenant farmers, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers whose names do not appear in the Record of Rights are not eligible, even if they actually cultivate the land.

No. Only Indian citizens residing in India are eligible. An NRI who owns agricultural land in India cannot claim PM-KISAN.

If the hold-up is on the payment or PFMS side, file with the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare through rtionline.gov.in (Central). If the hold-up is in the land record or eKYC at the state end, file with your District Agriculture Officer or State Nodal Officer through your State RTI portal. When you are not sure, file both in parallel.

For the Central application, Rs 10 — by Indian Postal Order, court-fee stamp, cash against receipt, or online through rtionline.gov.in by net banking, debit/credit card or UPI. BPL applicants are exempt on producing a BPL certificate. State fees vary; most states also charge Rs 10. See RTI Fees by State and Online Portal Directory (2026) for state-wise details.

It means the Public Financial Management System has raised a Fund Transfer Order against your name. It does not mean the money has reached your bank. The credit can still fail if your Aadhaar-NPCI mapping is broken or your bank account is inactive. Ask for the FTO reference number in your RTI — that is the record that proves the order was raised.

30 days from receipt of your application, under Section 7(1) of the RTI Act. If the matter concerns life or liberty, 48 hours — but PM-KISAN payment queries are treated as ordinary. If no reply arrives in 30 days, file a First Appeal under Section 19(1) within the next 30 days.

Yes. Registration No. DOA&C/R/E/20/01217, filed on 08 June 2020 with DA&FW, sought PM-KISAN implementation data and was disposed of on 20 November 2020 with the information sent by email. This confirms the Department is a valid and responsive RTI public authority for PM-KISAN matters — your application will be received and processed.

1. PM-KISAN official portal: [pmkisan.gov.in](https://www.pmkisan.gov.in/)
2. PM-KISAN Revised Operational Guidelines, 21.06.2019: [pmkisan.gov.in](https://www.pmkisan.gov.in/Documents/Revised%20Operational%20Guidelines%20-%20PM-Kisan%20Scheme.pdf)
3. PM-KISAN FAQ: [pmkisan.gov.in](https://pmkisan.gov.in/Documents/FAQPMKISAN.pdf)
4. PM-KISAN Contacts and Nodal Officers: [pmkisan.gov.in](https://www.pmkisan.gov.in/Contacts.aspx)
5. NIC — PM-KISAN project page: [nic.gov.in](https://www.nic.gov.in/project/pm-kisan/)
6. PIB — 22nd installment release, 13 March 2026 (Guwahati): [pib.gov.in](https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2026/mar/doc2026319829701.pdf)
7. ET Now — 23rd installment release, 20 June 2026 (Tarakeswar, Hooghly): [etnownews.com](https://www.etnownews.com/personal-finance/pm-kisan-23rd-instalment-out-pm-modi-transfers-over-rs-18880-crore-to-accounts-of-more-than-9-44-crore-farmers-details-article-154698494)
8. Free Press Journal — cumulative disbursal crosses Rs 4.46 lakh crore: [freepressjournal.in](https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/pm-kisan-crosses-rs-446-lakh-crore-in-benefits-nearly-944-crore-farmers-receive-23rd-instalment)
9. Economic Times — Union Budget 2026-27 PM-KISAN allocation Rs 60,000 crore: [economictimes.indiatimes.com](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/save/union-budget-2026-has-government-hiked-pm-kisan-instalment-amount-for-beneficiaries-check-details-here/articleshow/127815267.cms)
10. Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare: [agriwelfare.gov.in](https://www.agriwelfare.gov.in/en/FarmersWelDiv)
11. Central RTI online portal: [rtionline.gov.in](https://www.rtionline.gov.in)
12. CPGRAMS public grievance portal: [pgportal.gov.in](https://pgportal.gov.in)

1. Pillar 4 — RTI for Money and Schemes
2. RTI for government scheme delay — generic guide
3. RTI for PMAY installment not received
4. RTI for PMAY application status
5. RTI for land records
6. RTI for beginners
7. PMAY rural installment stuck — practical guide

Last reviewed: 4 July 2026.