Rs 1 Lakh Crore Financing Facilities for Agriculture Infrastructure Development
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By Team BiharConnect
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs 1 Lakh Crore to provide long-term financing facilities for development of farm-related infrastructure in the country.
This new Central Sector Scheme will support farmers, PACS, FPOs, Agri-entrepreneurs, etc. in building community farming assets and post-harvest agriculture infrastructure. These assets will enable farmers to get greater value for their produce as they will be able to store and sell at higher prices, reduce wastage, and increase processing and value addition.
Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a medium – long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and credit guarantee.
The duration of the scheme shall be from FY2020 to FY2029 (10 years). Under the scheme, Rs 1 Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3 per cent per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE scheme for loans up to Rs 2 Crore.
The beneficiaries will include farmers, PACS, Marketing Cooperative Societies, FPOs, SHGs, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Agri-entrepreneurs, Startups, and Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership Projects.
The Prime Minister launched the scheme at an event conducted through video conference. Farmers, FPOs, cooperatives, PACS, and citizens from across the country joined the virtual event.
The Union Cabinet had recently approved the creation of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund. The Fund will catalyse the creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets such as cold storage, collection centres, processing units, etc.
These assets will enable farmers to get greater value for their produce, as they will be able to store and sell at higher prices, reduce wastage, and increase processing and value addition. Rs 1 lakh crore will be sanctioned under the financing facility in partnership with multiple lending institutions; 11 of the 12 Public Sector Banks have already signed MOUs to extend financing under the scheme.
Address the event to launch the Fund, Prime Minister said the “scheme provides a good opportunity for start-ups in agriculture to avail the benefits and scale their operations, thereby creating an ecosystem that reaches farmers in every corner of the country.”
The Prime Minister also released the sixth instalment of funds of Rs. 17,000 crore to 8.5 crore farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme. The cash benefit was transferred directly to their Aadhaar verified bank accounts. With this transfer, the scheme has provided over Rs 90,000 crore in the hands of more than 10 crore farmers since its launch on 1 December 2018.
Under the PM-KISAN scheme the government provides income support by way of a cash benefit to all landholding farmers (subject to certain exclusion criteria) to enable them to fulfill their agricultural requirements and support their families. Under the scheme, the financial benefit of Rs 6000 per year is provided to eligible beneficiary farmers in three equal installments.