Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on Sunday 9th August 2020 inaugurated a scheme for Financing facility of Rs.1 lakh crore to boost the rural economy under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund for the Agricultural-entrepreneurs, Agriculture related technology Players, and the farmer groups for the post-harvest Management and Nurturing Farming Assets in India. The Prime Minister Launched this scheme to give a boost to the Country’s Agriculture sector and aid the farmers amid the Covid-19 crisis. The Prime Minister also initiated the transfer of Rs.17000 crores to an estimated 8.5 crore farmers under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme. During the launch of the scheme, the Prime Minister also expressed his happiness and said that Rs.17,000 crores of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi have been deposited into bank accounts of 8.5 crore farmers in a single click. The new Agriculture-Infrastructure Fund will have a duration of 10 years till 2029 and it aims to provide medium to long-term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and the community farming assets through interest subvention and financial support to the Farmers.
Under this scheme, Rs.1 lakh crore will be sanctioned for the financing facility in partnership with the multiple lending institutions as loans to primary agricultural-credit societies, farmer groups, farmer producer organizations, Agriculture-entrepreneurs, start-ups and Agri-Tech players. About 11 of the 12 public sector Banks have signed memorandum of Agreement with the Agriculture Ministry.
The Loans will be disbursed in four years starting with sanction of Rs.10,000 crores in the Current year and Rs.30,000 crores each in the next three financial years. The Covid-19 Loan moratorium for repayment under this financing facility may vary subject to a minimum of six months, and a maximum of two years. Further, the Credit Guarantee Coverage will be available for the eligible borrowers of this scheme from this financing facility under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) Scheme for a loan of up to Rs.2 crore. The fee for this coverage will be paid by the Government.
The Funds will be provided for setting up of Cold-stores and Chains, warehousing, 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 the Central/state/local bodies. The Agri-infra Fund will be managed and monitored through an Online Information Management (MIS) platform, will enable all the qualified entities to apply for loan under this Fund.
Under the PM-KISAN Scheme the government is providing annually Rs.6000 crores in three equal installments to 14 crore Farmers. The amount is Directly transferred into the Bank Accounts of the Beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer (DBT) Mode.
