Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)

What is Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana?

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) is a one-year personal accident insurance scheme run by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, and delivered through banks, India Post and general insurance companies. PMSBY was launched on 9 May 2015 as part of the Jan Suraksha package along with PMJJBY and the Atal Pension Yojana.

According to the Department of Financial Services, PMSBY provides a cover of Rs 2 lakh for accidental death or permanent total disability and Rs 1 lakh for permanent partial disability, for an annual premium of Rs 20. The cover period runs from 1 June to 31 May and renews every year on payment of the premium by auto-debit.

Key objectives

• Give low-income working households protection against the income shock caused by an accidental death or a disabling injury.
• Deliver accident cover at a price - Rs 20 a year, under 6 paise a day - that removes cost as a reason not to be insured.
• Use bank and post office accounts as the distribution channel so that no agent or medical test stands between the citizen and the cover.

Main features

• Pure accident cover. Illness and natural death are not covered.
• Age band of 18 to 70 years, wider than PMJJBY's 18 to 50.
• No medical examination and no good-health declaration required.
• One cover per person, irrespective of the number of bank accounts held.
• Cumulative enrolment has crossed 58.78 crore, with claims of about Rs 3,667 crore settled on more than 1.84 lakh claims, according to Department of Financial Services figures released in 2026.

Who is eligible for PMSBY?

You can apply if:

• You are aged 18 to 70 years (completed) on the date of enrolment.
• You hold an individual savings bank account or post office savings account.
• You give consent for auto-debit of Rs 20 from that account each year.
• Your Aadhaar is available as the primary KYC for the account.

You cannot apply if:

• You are below 18 or above 70 years of age. Cover also ceases automatically on attaining age 70, even mid-year.
• You hold only a current account or a loan account, with no eligible savings account.
• You are already enrolled under PMSBY through another bank - duplicate cover is not permitted and the second premium is forfeited.
• Your account balance is insufficient for the auto-debit on the due date.

Certain events are not eligible for a claim even when the member is properly enrolled: suicide, self-inflicted injury, death or disability while under the influence of liquor or drugs, injury arising from a criminal act, and war or allied perils. These exclusions are set out in the scheme rules published on jansuraksha.gov.in.

What documents are required for PMSBY?

How to apply for PMSBY

1. Confirm that your savings bank or post office account is active and that your age is between 18 and 70 years.
2. Get the PMSBY consent-cum-declaration form from jansuraksha.gov.in or from your bank or post office branch. Forms are available in English, Hindi and regional languages.
3. Fill in your account number, Aadhaar number, date of birth and nominee name and relationship, then sign the auto-debit mandate.
4. Submit the form at the branch and keep the acknowledgement carrying your enrolment number.
5. Alternatively enrol through net banking, the bank's mobile app, an ATM or by SMS - most participating banks list PMSBY under social security or insurance services.
6. Verify each year that Rs 20 has been debited by 31 May so that the cover renews without a gap.

How much benefit does PMSBY provide?

PMSBY pays according to a fixed benefit table:

The benefit is a fixed sum, not a reimbursement of medical costs. PMSBY does not pay hospital bills - a health scheme such as Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY covers that need. Against a payout of up to Rs 2 lakh, the annual premium is Rs 20, revised from Rs 12 with effect from 1 June 2022.

When does PMSBY cover end?

• On the member attaining age 70.
• On closure of the bank or post office account or an insufficient balance on the auto-debit date.
• Where cover exists through multiple accounts, on the duplicate account, with that premium forfeited.
• On settlement of a claim for accidental death or permanent total disability.

How to make a PMSBY claim

1. The nominee or the injured member informs the bank or post office branch where the enrolled account is held, ideally within 30 days of the accident.
2. Collect and submit the PMSBY claim form along with the FIR or panchnama and, in a death claim, the death certificate and post-mortem report.
3. For a disability claim, attach a disability certificate from a civil surgeon or the treating government hospital.
4. The branch verifies that the cover was in force on the date of the accident and forwards the claim to the insurance company, which credits the benefit to the nominee's or member's account.

Banks now upload PMSBY claims on the Jan Suraksha portal, which lets the member or nominee track the claim as it moves from the branch to the insurer. The revised claim procedure published by participating banks provides for settlement within about 30 days of the insurer receiving a complete claim. In practice, a claim with the death certificate, FIR or panchnama and, for a disability case, the civil surgeon's disability certificate attached, moves fastest; a delayed or missing FIR is the single biggest cause of a stalled claim. The nominee should keep photocopies of every document submitted and note the claim reference given by the branch.

How does PMSBY renew each year?

PMSBY runs on an annual cover cycle from 1 June to 31 May, and it renews automatically as long as the Rs 20 premium is auto-debited before the due date. The member does not fill a fresh form each year. Two habits keep the cover alive: keeping enough balance in the enrolled account around late May, and keeping the account and its Aadhaar seeding active. If the auto-debit fails in any year, the cover lapses for that year and can be revived only by paying the full annual premium and, where required, submitting a fresh consent form. A member who lets the cover lapse and rejoins later is treated as a new entrant for that cover year.

Common reasons PMSBY claims are rejected

• The premium was not debited in the current cover year, so the policy had lapsed.
• The death was from illness or a natural cause, which PMSBY does not cover.
• No FIR or panchnama was filed, leaving the accident unproven.
• The claim falls under an exclusion - suicide, intoxication, self-inflicted injury, or a criminal act.
• The member was above 70 years on the date of the accident.

Help and grievance redressal

• Jan Suraksha national toll-free numbers: 1800-180-1111 and 1800-110-001
• Official portal: jansuraksha.gov.in for rules, application forms and claim forms in multiple languages
• First point of contact: the branch of the bank or post office where the enrolled account is held

Enrolling in PMSBY costs nothing beyond the Rs 20 premium. No agent fee, service charge or facilitation payment is payable at enrolment or at the claim stage.

How to check your application status

PMSBY has no online application-tracking dashboard where you type a reference number and see a status bar. That is deliberate, because the scheme is account-linked rather than application-linked. What you are really checking is one of two things: whether your enrolment is live, or where a submitted claim has reached. The methods below are what actually exist.

Check 1: The bank statement is the real status check

For enrolment status, the authoritative signal is the premium debit.

1. Open your passbook, statement or the transaction list in net banking or the bank app.
2. Look for a debit of Rs 20 with a narration mentioning PMSBY, Suraksha Bima or Jan Suraksha. Since the cover year runs 1 June to 31 May, the entry for the current year normally sits in the second half of May or, for a mid-year joiner, close to the date you enrolled.
3. If the debit is present for the current cover year, your cover is in force. If it is absent, treat yourself as uninsured until you fix it, no matter what form you signed.

Two traps to watch. First, a Rs 20 debit from an earlier year does not prove the current year is covered, so check the year that matters. Second, if you signed the form in, say, April and the annual cycle debit followed in May, you may see two entries. Ask the branch to confirm which one relates to which cover year rather than assuming you were double-charged.

Check 2: Ask the branch of the enrolled account

The branch that holds the account is the single point of truth for both enrolment and claims, and the Jan Suraksha framework treats it that way.

• Carry your acknowledgement or enrolment number, or at least the account number.
• Ask the branch to confirm three specific things: that the PMSBY mandate is recorded against your account, that the premium for the current cover year has been recovered, and what nominee name and relationship are recorded. That third question is worth asking at least once, because nomination errors surface only when it is too late to correct them.
• If the branch says the mandate exists but no debit was raised, the usual cause is an insufficient balance on the debit date or an account that had gone dormant. Restore the balance or the account status and ask for the debit to be re-raised.
• Post office account holders ask the same three questions at the post office where the account is held.

Check 3: Track a submitted claim through the branch and the portal

A claim moves through three hands: the branch, the insurance company tied to that bank, and back to the nominee's or member's account. Checking status means asking at whichever hand currently holds it.

1. At submission, note the claim reference the branch gives you and the date the branch says it forwarded the papers to the insurer. Keep photocopies of everything you submitted.
2. At the branch, ask whether the claim has been uploaded and forwarded. Banks now upload PMSBY claims on the Jan Suraksha portal, which is what allows the claim to be followed as it moves from the branch to the insurer.
3. With the insurer, once the branch confirms the claim has been forwarded, ask the branch for the name of the insurance company handling PMSBY for that bank and the reference under which it was sent. Follow up with the insurer using that reference.
4. Against the settlement timeline, the revised claim procedure published by participating banks provides for settlement within about 30 days of the insurer receiving a complete claim. Use that as your benchmark. If the clock has run well past it, escalate rather than wait.

Check 4: What to do when a claim is stuck

The realistic causes of a stalled PMSBY claim are few, and each has a specific fix rather than a general appeal.

• Papers never left the branch. Ask for the date of dispatch to the insurer in writing. If there is none, that is where the claim is sitting.
• A document is missing. For a death claim the insurer needs proof that the death was accidental, which normally means the FIR or panchnama alongside the death certificate and post-mortem report. For a disability claim it needs the disability certificate from a civil surgeon or the treating government hospital. Supply whichever is missing and get a fresh acknowledgement.
• The FIR was delayed or never filed. This is the most frequent single cause of a hold-up. Lodge it and give the branch a copy even if time has passed, because an unproven accident cannot be settled.
• Cover was not in force on the date of the accident. The branch verifies the premium debit for the relevant cover year before forwarding anything. If the debit is missing for that year, resolve the enrolment question first, because no amount of claim follow-up will move a lapsed cover.

Check 5: Use the Jan Suraksha helplines and portal

• National toll-free numbers: 1800-180-1111 and 1800-110-001. Use these when the branch is not responding or you need to confirm what the scheme rules actually say. Have your account number, the bank name and the branch ready before you call.
• Portal: jansuraksha.gov.in carries the scheme rules, the enrolment form and the claim form in multiple languages. If a branch tells you something that contradicts the rules PDF on the portal, print the relevant page and take it back with you.

Check 6: Escalate in order

Escalation works when it follows the chain rather than jumping it.

1. Go back to the branch manager of the enrolled account with your dates and references in writing.
2. Ask the bank for its grievance redressal channel and file the complaint there, quoting the claim reference.
3. Take the matter up with the insurance company handling PMSBY for that bank, using its own grievance channel.
4. Use the Jan Suraksha toll-free numbers alongside, so that the scheme side of the chain is aware in parallel.

At every stage, keep a dated note of who you spoke to and what they said. A short written record of the chain is what converts a stalled claim into a traceable one. And at no point does any of this cost money: nothing beyond the Rs 20 premium is payable at enrolment, at status check or at the claim stage, so any demand for a fee to move a PMSBY claim should be refused and reported.