In the Union Budget 2025-26, the loan limit under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme has been increased from ₹3 lakh to ₹5. lakh.
Key Highlights
- The Kisan Credit Card Scheme (KCC) was introduced in 1998 for farmers to provide farmers with easy access to affordable credit for their agricultural needs so as to meet short term /long term cultivation requirements, postharvest expenses, consumption requirement etc.
- The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme is designed to provide farmers with adequate and timely credit to meet their diverse financial needs. It helps farmers access institutional credit easily, ensuring their financial stability and agricultural productivity.
- The scheme offers support for: Cultivation and post-harvest activities, Marketing loans, Household consumption needs, Working capital for farm assets, Investment credit for allied activities.
- Recognizing the importance of allied sectors, the KCC scheme was expanded in 2019 to include animal husbandry, dairying, and fisheries. Banks can provide collateral-free loans up to ₹1.60 lakh, ensuring financial security and fostering growth in these allied fields.
- The Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) offers concessional Short-term Agri-loans to farmers for crop and allied activities, providing a 7% interest rate on loans up to ₹3.00 lakh (Now increased to Rs 5 lakh), with an additional 3% subvention for timely repayment, reducing the effective rate to 4%. MISS also includes post-harvest loans against NWRs for small farmers with KCCs.
- The Kisan Rin Portal (KRP) launched in September 2023 addresses key challenges in the MISS-KCC scheme.
- By 31 December 2024, it had processed claims worth ₹108336.78 crore including Interest Subvention (IS) and PRI. About 5.9 crore farmers that are currently getting benefitted under the MISS-KCC scheme, have been mapped through KRP.
- As of March 2024, the country has 7.75 crore operational KCC accounts with a loan outstanding of ₹9.81 lakh crore. 1.24 lakh KCC and 44.40 lakh KCC were issued to fisheries and animal husbandry activities, respectively.
(Source: PIB)
