**Executive Summary**
This document outlines the Indian government's commitment to enhancing farmers' income and improving their access to institutional credit. It details various policy measures, developmental programs, and schemes implemented by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Key initiatives include the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS), which aim to provide affordable credit to farmers. The information was provided by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in Lok Sabha.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Government Initiatives for Farmers:**
* The Government of India is committed to enhancing farmer welfare and making agriculture more remunerative.
* This is achieved through policy measures, reforms, developmental programs, budgetary support, MSP, and various schemes.
* Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes are implemented by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) to increase farmers' income across the country.
* **Credit Access and Affordability:**
* Steps are taken to promote institutional credit among rural households, including setting annual credit targets for banks and implementing Priority Sector lending targets.
* The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) facilitate access to affordable credit.
* The Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) is a 100% centrally funded scheme providing concessional interest rates on short-term agricultural loans obtained by farmers through KCC for working capital.
* Under MISS, farmers receive KCC loans at a subsidized interest rate of 7%.
* An upfront interest subvention (IS) of 1.5% is provided to financial institutions.
* Farmers who repay loans promptly receive a 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI), reducing the effective interest rate to 4% per annum.
* **Other Farmer Empowerment Measures:**
* Structured long-term measures are implemented to economically empower farmers.
* These include direct cash benefit schemes (e.g., PM Kisan), crop insurance (e.g., PMFBY), and subsidy/grant-based programs (e.g., Krishonnati Yojna, RKVY).
* **Data on Agriculture Advances:**
* Details of "Agriculture and Allied Activities - Advances Outstanding" from Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) for the past five years are provided, showing a significant increase in outstanding advances.
**Impact Analysis**
**Farmers**
* **Impact:** Increased access to affordable credit through KCC and MISS, leading to reduced interest rates and improved ability to meet operational needs. Direct cash benefits, crop insurance, and grant programs further support their economic empowerment.
* **Action Required:** Farmers need to avail themselves of the KCC facility and adhere to repayment schedules to benefit from the reduced interest rates and Prompt Repayment Incentive.
**Financial Institutions (Banks)**
* **Impact:** Receive upfront interest subvention of 1.5% for providing KCC loans at subsidized rates. They are also involved in implementing Priority Sector lending targets.
* **Action Required:** Continue to facilitate KCC loans for farmers and ensure the implementation of the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) and Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI).
**Government (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Reserve Bank of India)**
* **Impact:** Responsible for implementing policies, schemes, and monitoring credit flow to the agricultural sector. They gather data on farmer income and outstanding loans.
* **Action Required:** Continue to develop and implement supportive policies and schemes, monitor their effectiveness, and ensure adequate credit flow to the agricultural sector.
Key Entities Referenced
Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS): A 100% centrally funded Central Sector Scheme implemented to provide concessional interest rates on short-term agricultural loans obtained by farmers through Kisan Credit Cards (KCC).
Kisan Credit Card (KCC): A credit facility for farmers to obtain short-term loans for working capital requirements, often facilitated by schemes like MISS.
Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW): The government department responsible for implementing Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes for farmers' welfare and income enhancement.
PM Kisan: A direct cash benefit scheme aimed at economically empowering farmers.
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): A crop insurance scheme implemented to support farmers.
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
Government Implementing Multiple Measures to
Enhance Farmers’ Income and Improve Access
to Institutional Credit
Posted On: 10 MAR 2026 6:11PM by PIB Delhi
The average monthly income and the average amount of outstanding loan per agricultural household in
rural areas of the country are periodically estimated through the “Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of
Agricultural Households”, conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
As per the latest NSS 77th round of the Survey (January, 2019 – December, 2019) in the rural areas of the
country, the average monthly income per agricultural household from various sources including
cultivation during agricultural year July, 2018- June, 2019 is given at Annexure I, and the average amount
of outstanding loan per agricultural household during the same period is given at Annexure II. Since the
last survey was conducted in 2019, the extent of average monthly income and amount of outstanding loan
per agricultural households for the last five years is not available.
Agriculture being a State Subject, the State Government take appropriate measures for development of
agriculture and welfare of farmers in the States. However, Government of India is committed to enhance
farmers welfare and making agriculture more remunerative. The Government of India supplements the
efforts of States through appropriate policy measures, reforms, developmental programs, budgetary
support, price support through MSP and various schemes/ programmes from time to time. To ensure
farmers welfare and to increase their income across the country, several Central Sector and Centrally
Sponsored Schemes are being implemented by Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW),
as given in the Annexure III.
As reported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the details of “Agriculture and Allied Activities –
Advances Outstanding” of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) during the past five years are as under:
As on Agriculture and Allied Activities - Advances Outstanding (₹ in
crore)
31.03.2021 13,84,815
31.03.2022 14,50,214
31.03.2023 18,18,907
31.03.2024 21,69,98331.03.2025 23,67,024
The Government has taken various steps to promote institutional credit among rural households which
inter-alia include annual fixing of ground level agriculture credit target to banks, Priority Sector lending
targets to banks, access to affordable credit through Kisan Credit Card (KCC)/ Modified Interest
Subvention Scheme (MISS) etc.
Further, the Government has also implemented structured long-term measures to economically empower
farmers. These initiatives include direct cash benefit schemes (PM Kisan), crop insurance (PMFBY),
subsidy and grant-based programs (Krishonnati Yojna, RKVY) etc.
To improve credit access over the long term, the government is implementing a 100% centrally funded
Central Sector Scheme known as the Modified lnterest Subvention Scheme (MISS) across various States
and UTs in pan lndia. This scheme aims to provide concessional interest rates on short-term agricultural
loans obtained by farmers through Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) for their working capital requirements. Due
to KCC-MISS scheme access to easy and affordable credit has increased significantly to farmers to meet
their operational needs.
Under this scheme, farmers receive KCC loans at a subsidized interest rate of 7%. To facilitate this, an up
front interest subvention (IS) of 1.5% is provided to financial institutions. Additionally, farmers who repay
their loans promptly receive a 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI), effectively reducing the interest
rate to 4% per annum.
This information was given by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Bhagirath
Chaudhary in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
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RC/PU/DK
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