Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (August 9) launched ₹1 lakh crore worth financing facility under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund for agricultural start-ups, entrepreneurs, farmer groups through video conferencing.
Through the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund, the government aims to provide medium to long to debt financing to create infrastructure for post-harvest management like cold storage chains, ripening chambers, warehouses, packaging units, e-marketing points, and also nurture farm assets through interest subvention and financial support.
₹1 lakh crore will be sanctioned under this fund in partnership with different lending institutions to agri entrepreneurs, start-ups and farmer society groups. 11 of the 12 public sector banks have already signed MoU with the Ministry of Agriculture.
Beneficiaries will be receiving credit guarantee upto ₹2 crores and interest subvention of 3%
The Union Cabinet had approved this fund as part of the ₹20 lakh crore Atmanirbhar Package last month.
Prime Minister Modi also released the sixth instalment of ₹17,100 crores to more than 8.55 crore farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme that was launched in 2018. The PM-KISAN scheme provides ₹6000 in three equal instalments to marginal and small farmers through DBT.