Ayushman Card Download: Apply Online and Get Your Card

You can download your Ayushman card free of cost from the official portal beneficiary.nha.gov.in or the Ayushman App. Log in with your mobile number, find your name in the beneficiary list, complete a one-time Aadhaar e-KYC, and the card is ready as a PDF. This guide walks through eligibility, the exact download steps, the documents you need, and what to do when your name does not show up.

What the Ayushman Card Is

The Ayushman card is the identity document of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), the central government’s health assurance scheme. It entitles each eligible family to free hospital treatment worth up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care, as confirmed in this Rajya Sabha reply published by PIB (verified July 2026). Treatment is cashless and paperless at empanelled hospitals — you show the card, the hospital verifies you, and the scheme pays the hospital directly.

Every member of an eligible family gets an individual card, though the ₹5 lakh cover is shared by the family as a whole. The card works across state borders: you can be treated at any empanelled hospital in the country, not just in your home state.

One common confusion is worth clearing early. The Ayushman card is not the same as the ABHA number. The Ayushman card gives you treatment cover under PM-JAY; the ABHA is a 14-digit health ID that links your medical records digitally under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. You can hold both, and neither substitutes for the other.

Who Can Get an Ayushman Card

Eligibility comes through one of three routes.

1. SECC 2011 families. The core beneficiary base was identified from the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011, using six deprivation criteria for rural areas and eleven occupational criteria for urban areas. This covers roughly the bottom 40 percent of the population by income. If your family was in those SECC lists, you are eligible — there is no fresh application to “join” the scheme, only verification and card creation.

2. State expansions. Many states have widened the beneficiary base at their own cost using other databases, such as National Food Security Act (ration card) data and state-specific lists. So even if your family was not in SECC 2011, you may still be eligible under your state’s expanded list. The portal’s eligibility search checks all of these together.

3. Senior citizens aged 70 and above — everyone qualifies. In October 2024 the government expanded AB PM-JAY to cover all citizens aged 70 years and above, regardless of income, through the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card. Two rules matter here, per the official PIB release:

• Seniors aged 70+ in families already covered under PM-JAY get an additional top-up cover of up to ₹5 lakh per year for themselves, over and above the family’s shared cover.
• Seniors already under CGHS, ECHS, or the Ayushman CAPF scheme must choose between their existing scheme and PM-JAY — they cannot hold both. If you are weighing this choice, our guide to the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) explains what CGHS covers.

Having private health insurance or ESI membership does not disqualify you; such persons remain eligible for PM-JAY.

How to Download Your Ayushman Card: Step by Step

The whole process runs on beneficiary.nha.gov.in. The Ayushman App (available on the Google Play Store, published by the National Health Authority) follows the same flow on mobile. No fee is charged at any step.

Step 1: Check your eligibility

1. Open beneficiary.nha.gov.in and select Beneficiary as the login type.
2. Enter your mobile number, verify it with the OTP, and fill in the captcha to log in. Any mobile number works for login — it does not have to be pre-linked to the scheme.
3. Select your state and district, and choose the scheme (PMJAY).
4. Search for your family using one of the options offered: Aadhaar number, family ID (ration card), PMJAY ID, or name and location.
5. If your family is eligible, the members list appears with each person’s card status — such as not generated, pending approval, or approved.

If nothing appears, try the other search options before concluding you are not covered; a name search can miss records that an Aadhaar or ration-card search finds.

Step 2: Complete Aadhaar e-KYC

1. Against your name in the family list, click the e-KYC (or Identify/Verify) action.
2. Choose an authentication mode — Aadhaar OTP is the simplest. The OTP goes to the mobile number linked to your Aadhaar. Face authentication via the Aadhaar FaceRD app and fingerprint verification are the alternatives if that mobile number is inactive.
3. Consent to Aadhaar authentication and complete the verification.
4. Add a recent photo and confirm your details (mobile number, relationship, address) when prompted, then submit.

Verification is usually automatic when your Aadhaar details match the beneficiary record well. If the match is partial, the request goes into a pending state for approval by the state health agency, which can take a few days.

Step 3: Download the card

1. Once the status against your name shows Approved, log in again and return to your family list.
2. Click Download Card against your name.
3. Authenticate once more with Aadhaar OTP, and the card downloads as a PDF.

Print it or keep the PDF on your phone — hospitals accept both. You can also keep government documents like this organised in DigiLocker, so the card is always available even if you change phones.

Citizens aged 70+ follow the same portal or app, using the enrolment option for the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card; self-registration is built in. Anyone who prefers help over self-service can get the card made at the nearest empanelled hospital or Common Service Centre (CSC).

Documents You Need

• Aadhaar card — mandatory for e-KYC, with a working linked mobile number (or use face/fingerprint authentication).
• Ration card or family ID — useful for finding your family record and establishing family composition.
• Mobile number — any active number, for the portal login OTP.
• A recent photograph — captured or uploaded during e-KYC.

No income certificate, no fee, and no physical paperwork is needed for the online route.

Checking Status and Fixing Common Problems

Track your card status. Log in to beneficiary.nha.gov.in the same way and open your family list; the status against each name shows whether e-KYC is pending, under approval, or approved. The Ayushman App shows the same.

Name not in the list. Eligibility under the base scheme depends on the SECC 2011 records and state lists — families cannot add themselves to those lists online. Ask at a Common Service Centre or the Ayushman help desk at an empanelled government hospital to have your records checked. If you are 70 or older, you are eligible regardless, via the Vay Vandana route.

Aadhaar OTP not arriving. The e-KYC OTP goes to the mobile linked with Aadhaar, not the number you logged in with. If that number is dead, use face authentication in the Ayushman App, or visit a CSC for biometric verification.

Card stuck in “pending approval.” Partial Aadhaar-record mismatches go for manual approval. Wait a few days, then escalate on the helpline.

Helplines. Call 14555, the 24×7 national call centre for PM-JAY. Senior citizens can also give a missed call on 1800-110-770 for the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card (both numbers per PIB).

Before hospitalisation, check that your hospital is empanelled using the official hospital search at hospitals.pmjay.gov.in — treatment is free only at empanelled hospitals. For other government schemes your family may qualify for, see our sarkari yojana list.

What the Card Covers

Figures per the PIB Rajya Sabha reply of March 2025, verified July 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I download my Ayushman card online?

Log in at beneficiary.nha.gov.in with your mobile number and OTP, search your family by Aadhaar, family ID or PMJAY ID, complete Aadhaar e-KYC against your name, and once the status shows approved, click Download Card. The card downloads as a PDF after a final Aadhaar OTP. The Ayushman App offers the same steps on mobile.

Is there any fee for the Ayushman card?

No. Applying, e-KYC and downloading the card are completely free on the official portal, the Ayushman App, and at Common Service Centres. Do not pay anyone for “card making” — that is not an official charge.

Who is eligible for the Ayushman card?

Families identified in the SECC 2011 lists (six rural deprivation criteria, eleven urban occupational criteria), families added through state expansions using ration-card and other databases, and — since October 2024 — every citizen aged 70 and above regardless of income, through the Ayushman Vay Vandana Card.

Can senior citizens above 70 get the card if their family already has PM-JAY?

Yes. Seniors aged 70+ in families already covered get an additional top-up cover of up to ₹5 lakh per year for themselves, over and above the family’s shared ₹5 lakh. Seniors under CGHS, ECHS or Ayushman CAPF must, however, choose between that scheme and PM-JAY.

Is the Ayushman card the same as the ABHA number?

No. The Ayushman card gives ₹5 lakh treatment cover under PM-JAY to eligible families. The ABHA is a 14-digit digital health ID under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission that links your health records; it carries no treatment cover and is open to everyone.

What if my Aadhaar-linked mobile number is not working?

Use face authentication through the Ayushman App (with the Aadhaar FaceRD app) instead of OTP, or visit a Common Service Centre or empanelled hospital help desk for fingerprint-based e-KYC. Updating your mobile number at an Aadhaar centre is the durable fix.

How do I check which hospitals accept the Ayushman card?

Use the official hospital search at hospitals.pmjay.gov.in, filter by your state, district and specialty, and confirm the hospital is currently empanelled before admission. You can also call the 24×7 helpline 14555 to confirm.