**Executive Summary**
The "World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector," approved on May 31, 2023, aims to address food grain storage shortages through decentralized scientific infrastructure. The plan converges multiple government schemes to create godowns and agri-processing units at the cooperative level, significantly reducing post-harvest losses and transportation costs. Key progress includes the completion of 120 godowns and the identification of 378 districts to bridge a storage gap of 46.92 LMT.
**Key Points / Main Content**
**Infrastructure and Objectives**
* **Project Scope:** Entails the creation of godowns, custom hiring centers, processing units, and Fair Price Shops at the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) level.
* **Strategic Benefits:** Decentralized storage minimizes handling, reduces long-haul transportation costs, improves price realization for farmers, and enhances national food security.
* **Convergence of Schemes:** Integrates existing programs including the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), and Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM).
**Governance and Implementation**
* **Monitoring Committees:** State Cooperative Development Committees (SCDC) headed by State Chief Secretaries and District Cooperative Development Committees (DCDC) headed by District Collectors monitor implementation.
* **Current Progress:** 560 cooperative societies have been identified, with 120 godowns already completed, totaling a capacity of 72,702 MT.
* **Expansion:** Initially focused on PACS, the plan now includes all Cooperative Societies, Cooperative Federations, and Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS).
**Financial Incentives and Support**
* **Subsidies and Costs:** The AMI scheme provides a 33.33% subsidy. Construction cost benchmarks have been increased to ₹7,000/MT in plain areas and ₹8,000/MT in northeastern states.
* **Reduced Financial Burden:** Margin money requirements were lowered from 20% to 10%. Through NABARD’s refinance scheme and AIF interest subvention, the effective interest rate for PACS is reduced to 1%.
* **Ancillary Support:** An additional subsidy of 1/3 of the total admissible subsidy is available for infrastructure like roads, weighbridges, and boundary walls.
* **Credit and Assurance:** Credit guarantees for PACS under the AIF scheme have been extended from 2+5 to 2+8 years. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) provides a 9-year hiring assurance for these godowns.
**Impact Analysis**
**Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and Cooperatives**
**Impact**
Cooperatives benefit from significantly reduced interest rates (1%), increased subsidies for infrastructure, and guaranteed income through a 9-year hiring assurance from the FCI.
**Action Required**
Identify available land for storage facilities and apply for financial support through converged GoI schemes.
**Farmers**
**Impact**
Farmers gain access to scientific storage closer to their farms, leading to reduced post-harvest losses and better price realization for their produce.
**Action Required**
Utilize local cooperative storage and processing facilities to minimize transportation costs and improve supply chain efficiency.
**State and Union Territory Governments**
**Impact**
States are responsible for the seamless integration of the plan with existing local policies and the oversight of regional implementation.
**Action Required**
Identify further land in PACS and other cooperative societies to address the identified storage gaps in their respective districts.
Key Entities Referenced
World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector: A national pilot project aimed at creating decentralized scientific grain storage infrastructure by converging multiple existing government schemes.
Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF): A central scheme providing interest subvention and credit guarantees to cooperative societies for the construction of agri-infrastructure like godowns.
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS): The village-level cooperative entities central to the plan’s implementation, where decentralized storage and processing infrastructure is being constructed.
Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI): A government initiative providing capital subsidies for food grain storage construction, with specific enhancements for cooperatives under this plan.
Ministry of Cooperation: The primary central ministry responsible for approving, rolling out, and overseeing the implementation of the decentralized grain storage plan.
Ministry of Cooperation
Strengthening Cooperative
Posted On: 24 MAR 2026 5:25PM by PIB Delhi
In order to address the shortage of storage capacity for food grains in the country and creation of
decentralised scientific grain storage infrastructure, the Government, on 31st May, 2023, has approved the
“World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector”, which has been rolled out as a Pilot Project.
The Plan entails creation of various agri infrastructure including godowns, custom hiring centers,
processing units, Fair Price Shops, etc. at PACS/ other cooperative societies level through convergence of
various existing schemes of the Government of India (GoI), such as, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
(AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization
(SMAM), Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME), etc.
Committees have been constituted at State (State Cooperative Development Committee (SCDC) headed
by State Chief Secretary and District levels (District Cooperative Development Committees (DCDC)
headed by District Collector to monitor its implementation and ensure its seamless integration with the
existing State policies/ programmes at the State level and District level.
Decentralized storage at the village/PACS level is expected to significantly reduce post-harvest losses by
enabling scientific storage closer to farms and minimizing handling. Localized storage also lowers
transportation distances and associated costs by reducing repeated long-haul movements to distant
warehouses or mandis. Collectively, these measures improve price realization for farmers, enhance supply-
chain efficiency, and strengthen food security outcomes.
As per information received from the State of Madhya Pradesh, since the State, including the Districts of
Katni, Panna and Chhatarpur, has adequate storage infrastructure, hence no godowns have been
constructed in the State under the Plan.
The Plan is being implemented across the country at the locations where there is storage requirement so
that the farmers of those regions receive improved price realization and reduced post-harvest losses.
Agencies such as Food Corporation of India (FCI), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing
Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd. (NCCF) and
State Warehousing Corporations (SWCs) have identified 378 districts/ location across the country as per
their storage requirement which constitutes a total storage gap of 46.92 LMT and States/UTs concerned
have been requested for further identification of land in PACS and other Cooperative Societies. So far,
under the Grain Storage Plan, 560 cooperative societies have been identified and construction of godowns
has been completed in 120 cooperative societies across the country creating a total storage capacity of
72,702 MT.
Financial support is provided to the participating cooperative societies through various GOI schemes
converged with the Plan. Under the AIF Scheme the benefit of interest subvention is given to the PACS
against the loan taken for construction of godowns and under AMI Scheme 33% subsidy is given for the
construction of foodgrain storage. The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has extended the
credit guarantee under AIF Scheme from 2+5 to 2+8 years for PACS and also made the following
amendments under the AMI scheme:Margin money requirement has been reduced from 20% to 10%.
The construction cost has been revised from ₹3000–3500/MT to ₹7000/MT for plain areas and from
₹4000/MT to ₹8000/MT for northeastern states.
The subsidy has been increased for PACS from 25% to 33.33% (from ₹875/MT to ₹2333/MT for
plain areas and from ₹1333.33/MT to ₹2666/MT for northeastern states).
For PACS, a provision has been made to provide an additional subsidy of 1/3 (one third) of the total
admissible subsidy for ancillary infrastructure such as internal roads, weighbridges, boundary walls,
etc.
The Plan also utilizes NABARD's special refinance scheme to significantly reduce the financial burden on
participating cooperatives. When combined with the 3% interest subvention available under the AIF, the
effective loan interest rate for PACS is reduced to 1% under World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan.
Further, Food Corporation of India (FCI) has also agreed to provide uniform hiring assurance for 9 years
to PACS/ other cooperative societies godowns under the Plan.
In order to broaden implementation capacity and scale, the Plan has been expanded beyond PACS to
include all Cooperative Societies, Cooperative Federations, and Multi-State Cooperative Societies
(MSCS).
This information was given by Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Shri Amit Shah in a written
reply in Lok Sabha.
****
AK/AP
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