Under the PM-Kisan, the Centre provides direct income support of Rs 6,000 each in three equal installments per annum to 14 crore eligible farmers.
Under the AIF, the Centre will bear about 3% interest subsidy and up to Rs 2 crore credit guarantee to extend the viability of the projects.
Prime minister Narendra Modi on Sunday formally launched the Rs 1-lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) under which agri-entrepreneurs, start-ups, agri-tech players, and farmer groups will have access to credit at subsidized interest for building warehouses, cold storages and other facilities to scale back post-harvest losses. Modi also announced a release of Rs 17,100 crore to about 8.5 crore farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme.
Under the AIF, the Centre will bear about 3% interest subsidy and up to Rs 2 crore credit guarantee to extend the viability of the projects. Already, 11 of the 12 public sector banks have signed a memorandum of agreement with the agriculture ministry. The Centre targets to disburse the whole amount of Rs 1 lakh crore in four years that Rs 10,000 crore has been sanctioned within the current fiscal and Rs 30,000 crore each has been earmarked for next three years. The moratorium for repayment under this financing facility may vary between 6-24 months.
On the primary day of the launch of the scheme, over Rs 1,000 crore credit was disbursed to 2,280 farmer societies, the govt said during a statement. While farmer producer organizations (FPOs) will avail the credit guarantee facility from the agriculture ministry under the FPO promotion scheme, other eligible borrowers will catch on under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and little Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme that the govt can pay the specified fees.
The funds are going to be provided for fixing of cold stores and chains, warehouses, silos, assaying, grading and packaging units, e-marketing points linked to e-trading platforms, and ripening chambers, besides PPP projects for crop aggregation sponsored by central/state/local bodies. minister of finance Nirmala Sitharaman on May 15 had announced the creation of the AIF as a part of the R 20 lakh crore relief package amid the outbreak of COVID 19.
Noting that India is the second-largest producer of foodgrains within the world, the prime minister said that Indian agriculture has no problem with reference to production. However, there’s a serious problem with post-harvest wastages, he said and added that farmers also because the nation also suffers losses. “While the fund will help create modern cold storages and cold chains also as warehouses in villages, it’ll also provide employment opportunities in rural areas,” Modi said.
He cited the recent amendment within the Essential Commodities Act and said that this is able to encourage investors and traders to return forward and invest in the warehousing sector. As farmer’s organizations are demanding rollback of three ordinances, the prime minister assured them that the ordinance on contract farming would help farmers receive prices fixed at the time of sowing of crops and supply relief from any possibility of fall in prices.
Several farmers organizations under the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee have demanded the govt to withdraw two new ordinances on contract farming and barrier-free inter-state trading and amendment to the EC Act. They organized a nationwide protest on Sunday on these and other demands like loan waiver and guaranteed price.
Modi also said that while the govt targets to make 10,000 FPOs, it’s also been simultaneously promoting start-ups within the agriculture sector then far, about 350 such ventures in food processing, AI, mechanization, and renewable energy are supported. He hoped that the ‘Kisan rail’ launched recently would prevent distress sales by farmers because it would connect with the market.
Under the PM-Kisan, the Centre provides direct income support of Rs 6,000 each in three equal installments per annum to 14 crore eligible farmers. the quantity is directly transferred into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries after Aadhaar authentication.
