Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

• Integrity Education, Delhi
• 09, Jul 2021

Why in news: Cabinet decision to include State Agencies/APMCs, National and State Federations of Cooperatives, Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Federation of Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs) in in the ‘Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’

Aim of AIF: To provide medium - long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets.

Beneficiary

• PrimaryAgricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Marketing Cooperative Societies, Farmer Producers Organizations(FPOs)
• Self Help Group (SHG), Farmers, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies
• Agri-entrepreneurs, Startups and Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public Private Partnership Projects.

Participating institutions

• All scheduled commercial banks, scheduled cooperative banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)
• Small Finance Banks Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)

Benefits

• Rs. 1 Lakh Crore to be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans 
• Interest Subvention: Loans will have interest subvention of 3% per annum up to a limit of Rs. 2 crore. 
• This subvention will be available for a maximum period of seven years.
• So far, loans up to Rs.2 crore at one place were eligible for interest subvention under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund Scheme.
• Now if an eligible entity takes up projects in different locations, all such projects will be eligible for interest subvention for loans up to Rs.2 crore.
• There will be a maximum limit of 25 such projects.