New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the financing facility of Rs. 1 lakh crore under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund via video conferencing. He also released the sixth instalment of funds of Rs. 17,000 crore to 8.5 crore farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme.
Earlier, in the day PM Modi tweeted, ” Wishing countrymen especially farmers on the occasion of Balram Jayanti, ‘Hal Chhath’ and ‘Dau janmotsav’. On this special day at 11 am, through video conferencing, I will introduce a funding facility of Rs 1 lakh crore under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.”
Prime Minister reiterated that India has a huge opportunity to invest in post-harvest management solutions like warehousing, cold chain, and food processing, and build a global presence in areas such as organic and fortified foods. He also mentioned that this 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.
Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction with the pace of implementation of the PM-KISAN scheme. He also noted that the scale of the program is so large that the funds released today have reached more people than the entire population of several countries taken together. He also congratulated states for playing an important role in the implementation and assisting farmers through the entire process from registration all the way to disbursals.
The Union Cabinet has approved the Central Sector Scheme of financing facility under “Agriculture Infrastructure Fund” of Rs. 1 Lakh Crore. The Fund will catalyze 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 with the DAC&FW.
3% interest subvention and credit guarantee of up to Rs 2 Crore will be provided to the beneficiaries to increase the viability of these projects.The beneficiaries of the scheme 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 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna (PM-KISAN) scheme, launched on 01 December 2018, has provided a direct cash benefit of over Rs. 75,000 Crore to more than 9.9 Crore farmers.This has enabled them to fulfil their agricultural requirements and support their families. The rollout and implementation of the PM-KISAN scheme has happened at an unparalleled pace, with funds being directly transferred into the Aadhaar authenticated beneficiaries’ bank account to prevent leakage and increase convenience for farmers.
The scheme has also been instrumental in supporting farmers during the Covid-19 pandemic, through the release of nearly Rs 22,000 Crore to aid the farmers during the lockdown period.
