Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

Why is in news? Shri Manoj Ahuja launches new campaign for banks under Agri Infra Fund titled Banks Heralding Accelerated Rural and Agriculture Transformation Campaign

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare launched a new campaign for banks under Agri Infra Fund titled BHARAT (Banks Heralding Accelerated Rural & Agriculture Transformation).

This one month-long Campaign (from 15th July 2023 to 15th August 2023) with a target of Rs 7200 crore was launched through Video Conference

While addressing the gathering of Bank Executives and Ministry Officials, the Joint Secretary (AIF) highlighted the progress made since the inception of this ambitious flagship Scheme.

In his welcome address, he complimented the Banks for their active involvement and support to promote this Scheme which has resulted in creation of more than 31, 850 agri infra projects in the country with ₹24750 crore as loan amount under AIF with an outlay of ₹ 42,000 crores.

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund:

AIF is a medium – long term debt financing facility launched in July 2020.

It aims to provide all-around financial support to the farmers, agri-entrepreneurs, farmer groups like Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs), Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) etc. and many others to create post-harvest management infrastructure and build community farming assets throughout the country.

The fund will be managed and monitored through an online Management Information System (MIS) platform. It will enable all the qualified entities to apply for loans under the Fund.

The National, State and District level monitoring committees will be set up to ensure real-time monitoring and effective feed-back.

AIF provides support of 3% interest subvention, credit guarantee support through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme for loan of up to Rs. 2 crore and facility of convergence with other Central and State Government schemes.

AIF is helping in reducing post-harvest losses by creating and modernising agriculture infrastructure, which includes primary processing centres for vegetables, hi-tech hubs for rental of agricultural machinery.

Management: