Strengthening APMCS through Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) Scheme
Government of India has launched the Central Sector Scheme of financing facility under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to boost Agriculture Infrastructure relating to Post-Harvest Management (PHM) and Community Farming Assets in the country. Under this scheme financing facility of ₹1 lakh crore is to be disbursed by banks/lending institutions as loans to eligible beneficiaries.
This financing facility will help APMCs to upgrade their infrastructure, which will ultimately benefit the farmers.
- Under Tentative Fund Allocation Uttar Pradesh (12831 Crore), Rajasthan (9015 Crore) and Maharashtra (8460 Crore) are the Top Three States.
- Madhya Pradesh has been sanctioned Maximum No of Projects (1311) as well as Sanctioned Amount (1021.8 Crore).
Aim and Objectives of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)
The objective of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme is to mobilize a medium - long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through incentives and financial support in order to improve agriculture infrastructure in the country.
The scheme provide financial assistance in the form of interest subvention and credit guarantee for setting Post Harvest Management (PHM) projects which will help better post harvest management and reduction in wastage.
The following community farming assets projects are eligible under the scheme:-
- Organic inputs production
- Bio stimulant production units
- Infrastructure for smart and precision agriculture.
- Projects identified for providing supply chain infrastructure for clusters of crops including export clusters.
- Projects promoted by Central/State/Local Governments or their agencies under PPP for building community farming assets or post-harvest management projects.
Eligible Beneficiary Under AIF
- Primary Agricultural Credit Society
- Agri-Entrepreneur
- Farmer
- Farmer Producers Organization
- Joint Liability Groups
- Self Help Group
- Startup
- Marketing Cooperative Societies
- Multipurpose Cooperative Societies
- Aggregation Infrastructure Providers and
- Central/State agency or
- Local Body sponsored Public Private Partnership Project
Load Disbursal Timeline : Loans will be disbursed in four years starting with sanction of Rs. 10,000 crore in the current year (FY20-21) and Rs. 30,000 crore each in next three financial years (FY21-22, FY22-23 and FY23-24).
Budgetary Provision : The total outflow as budgetary support from Government of India (GoI) will be Rs.10,736 crore:
Moratorium : Moratorium for repayment under this financing facility may vary subject to minimum of 6 months and maximum of 2 years.
Interest Subvention : All loans under this financing facility 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.
Credit Guarantee : Further, credit guarantee coverage will be available for eligible borrowers from this financing facility under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme for a loan up to Rs. 2 crore. The fee for this coverage will be paid by the Government.
- In case of FPOs the credit guarantee may be availed from the facility created under FPO promotion scheme of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DACFW).
Fund Management : Agri Infra fund will be managed and monitored through an online Management Information System (MIS) platform.
- The National, State and District level Monitoring Committees will be set up to ensure real-time monitoring and effective feed-back.
