Parliament Question: Implementation of AIF

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 376 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 22nd July, 2025 IMPLEMENTATION OF AIF

376. SHRI SUDHAKAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ िष एवं िकसान क(cid:670)ाण मं(cid:361)ी be pleased to state:

(a) the total allocation of funds under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) to all States and Union Territories since its inception, State/UT-wise and year-wise;

(b) the details of key criteria and rationale adopted by the Government in determining the allocation of funds under AIF across different States and Union Territories;

(c) the number of agriculture infrastructure projects sanctioned and developed in Bihar under the AIF, detailing the type of infrastructure (e.g., cold storage, warehousing, processing units, irrigation projects) and their respective approved funding;

(d) the status of physical and financial progress of each of these infrastructure projects in Bihar as on date;

(e) whether the Government monitors and evaluates the impact of these funded infrastructure projects on farmers’ income and productivity; and

(f) if so, the details of such evaluations and the outcomes thereof, particularly in Bihar, and if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ िष एवं िकसान क(cid:670)ाण रा(cid:475)मं(cid:361)ी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a) & (b): The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a medium-long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post harvest management infrastructure and viable farming assets through interest subvention and credit guarantee support. Under the scheme, Rs.1 Lakh Crore is provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3% per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE and NABSanrakshan for loans up to Rs.2 Crores.

At the inception of the scheme, a tentative State wise allocation of financing facility was made on the basis of the ratio of total value output of Agriculture and Allied sectors of States/UTs. The details of the allocation is mentioned at Annexure-I.

(c) & (d): At the inception of scheme, a tentative allocation of Rs 3980 crore was made for the state of Bihar. As on 30th June 2025, Rs.1440.80 Crore have been sanctioned for 1763 projects. Out of this, 914.64 crore have been disbursed under AIF in Bihar state. The total project cost for these sanctioned projects is Rs.2419 crores. Project-wise details of Loans sanctioned and disbursed in the State of Bihar are given in Annexure-II.(e) & (f): An impact assessment was conducted in December 2023 to evaluate the scheme’s performance, gather beneficiary feedback, and suggest improvements.

The evaluation highlighted positive impact of the scheme in terms of increase in farmers’ income, increase in agriculture storage capacity, growth of post harvest and value addition infrastructure for agriculture produce, generation of employment and encouraging agriculture entrepreneurship. Although a specific evaluation exclusively for the State of Bihar was not undertaken, the study component included samples from Bihar among other States, and findings were analysed in a holistic manner. The outcomes of the study were generalised at the national level to assess the overall impact of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

(AIF) Scheme across the country, including Bihar. The details of the outcome of the

study are enumerated hereunder: i. 31% of the AIF units availed government subsidies also. Thus, they have been benefitted due to Convergence under AIF. ii. Around 85% of the total units, availability of AIF loan was the main reason for starting the unit.

iii. On an average about 40% of the project cost of the AIF units was covered by AIF loan. iv. Around 70% of the units have taken loan for creating new infrastructure. v. The employment generated by AIF unit activities was relatively higher in peak seasons than in slack season. The average number of persons employed per unit in the peak season was found to be 11. The average was highest i.e. 27 in Rajasthan and lowest i.e. 5 in the state of Maharashtra.

vi. Number of persons employed per unit was higher in case of agro processing units. vii. The total capacity created by sample AIF warehouse, cold storage units and silos is around 879 thousand MT. Also, these units have occupied total area of around 2900 thousand sq. feet.

viii. Overall responses reveal satisfactory demand for products/services of AIF units and satisfactory income from these units. ix. Most of the units are situated in the rural areas indicating proximity to the agriculture production regions and around 54% of the respondents believed that incomes of farmers have increased because of the AIF units and majority of them reported that the increase in incomes was very high and satisfactory.

x. Around 54% of the respondents felt that overall, the farmers have benefitted due to the AIF facilities.ANNEXURE-I Tentative Allocation of Funds to all States/UTs at the inception of Scheme (Amount in Rs. Crore) Sr No State Tentative Allocation

1. Uttar Pradesh 12831

2. Rajasthan 9015

3. Maharashtra 8460

4. Madhya Pradesh 7440

5. Gujarat 7282

6. West Bengal 7260

7. Andhra Pradesh 6540

8. Tamil Nadu 5990

9. Punjab 4713

10. Karnataka 4525

11. Bihar 3980

12. Haryana 3900

13. Telangana 3075

14. Kerala 2520

15. Odisha 2500

16. Assam 2050

17. Chhattisgarh 1990

18. Jharkhand 1445

19. Himachal Pradesh 925

20. Jammu & Kashmir 900

21. Ladakh

22. Uttrakhand 785

23. Tripura 360

24. Arunachal 290 Pradesh

25. Nagaland 230

26. Manipur 200

27. Mizoram 196

28. Meghalaya 190

29. Goa 110

30. Delhi 102

31. Sikkim 56

32. Puducherry 48

33. A&N Islands 40

34. Daman & Diu 22

35. Lakshadweep 11

36. Dadra & Nagar 10 Haveli

37. Chandigarh 9 Total 1,00,000ANNEXURE-II Project-wise detail of Loans sanctioned and disbursed in the State of Bihar on 30th June 2025 (Amount in Rs. Crore) Disbursed S.N Project Type Number of Projects Sanctioned Amount Amount 1 Warehouse 712 663.20 404.53 2 Processing Units 334 380.68 247.31 3 Cold Stores and Cold Chain 40 162.00 99.01 4 Sorting & Grading Unit 22 29.81 25.81 5 Silos 4 26.34 13.84 6 Custom Hiring Centre 154 20.12 19.00 7 Organic inputs production 4 15.71 0.61 8 Assaying units 5 4.62 0.47 9 Logistics Facility 4 2.81 2.56 10 Bio stimulant production units 2 8.50 2.50 11 Ripening Chambers 4 2.24 0.92 Infrastructure for smart and 12 8 1.09 1.00 precision agriculture 13 Packaging units 8 0.63 0.53 Supply chain infrastructure for 14 1 0.40 0.00 clusters of crops 15 Composite Project 2 0.31 0.31 16 Others 459 122.34 96.26 Grand Total 1763 1440.80 914.64 *****