Parliament flags huge gaps in PMJJBY coverage

PMJJBY was launched on May 9, 2015 as part of the broader Jan Suraksha social security framework.

NEW DELHI: Asked by Sudama Prasad, MP, in the Lok Sabha on February 2, 2026, and answered by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a starred question on beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) has drawn renewed attention to the design and performance of India’s largest government-backed life insurance scheme. Official data shows that only 46% of those who enrolled remained covered as of February 2, 2026, while nearly 9% of the total cohort had discontinued because they lacked sufficient bank balance to renew the policy on time.

PMJJBY was launched on May 9, 2015 as part of the broader Jan Suraksha social security framework. The scheme is voluntary and open to individuals aged 18 to 50 years who hold a savings bank account and provide consent for automatic premium deduction. The policy is renewed annually through an auto-debit mandate. Once enrolled, a subscriber is eligible for a life cover of `2 lakh in the event of death. The annual premium of `436 is fixed and deducted at the end of May. Each policy year runs from June 1 to May 31, after which renewal depends on whether the account has sufficient balance.

According to the finance ministry’s statement, cumulative enrolments crossed 26.3 crore by January 2026. Enrolment has risen across almost all states/UTs. But the same official data reveals that the number of active policies stood at about 12.1 crore as of early January 2026. The main reason for this is the lack of sufficient bank balance, which leads to automatic lapse of the policy.

Discontinuations due to lack of balance have increased alongside expansion. The ministry says that such lapses rose year after year, reaching over 2.3 crore cumulatively by May 2025. Data says attrition is driven by the economic volatility of the very groups the scheme seeks to protect.

In contrast, PMJJBY’s performance on claim settlement remains one of its strongest features. The government reports a claim settlement ratio of 99.94%, with most states recording ratios in the high nineties. As of January 2026, more than 10.5 lakh claims had been filed nationally, of which over 10.2 lakh were settled. According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the average time taken to settle claims ranges from less than a day to 17.

46% of enrolled beneficiaries remained covered, while 9% of the total cohort had discontinued because of inadequacy of bank balance