Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a Central Sector Scheme approved by the Union Cabinet on 8 July 2020 and launched by the Prime Minister on 9 August 2020, as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package. Its purpose is to mobilise a medium- to long-term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets, through interest subvention and credit guarantee support. Specifically, the fund aims to:

• •Improve farm-gate infrastructure so that farmers can get better price realisation by selling directly to bulk buyers/processors, reducing intermediary losses.
• •Address the post-harvest management infrastructure gap — storage, transport, and processing — that leads to significant crop wastage in India.
• •Encourage Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Agri-entrepreneurs, and Startups to invest in agriculture infrastructure through de-risked, subsidised credit.
• •Bridge regional disparities in agricultural infrastructure and support decentralised, community-owned farming assets.
• •Encourage adoption of new-age technology — IoT, AI, sensors, drones — in agriculture value-chain infrastructure.

Eligible Entities

• •Farmers (individual or group)
• •Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)
• •Marketing Cooperative Societies
• •Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)
• •Self Help Groups (SHGs) and SHG Federations (added in 2021)
• •Joint Liability Groups (JLGs)
• •Multipurpose Cooperative Societies
• •Agri-entrepreneurs, Start-ups
• •Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs)
• •State Agencies / State Federations of Cooperatives
• •Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects

Eligible Project Categories

A. Loan Amount

The scheme has no minimum or maximum loan cap — however, the interest subvention and credit guarantee benefits apply only up to ₹2 crore per project, in one location. Loans above ₹2 crore can still be sanctioned, but only the first ₹2 crore is eligible for subvention; the remainder is priced at the bank's normal commercial terms.

B. Interest Subvention

C. Interest Rate Cap

D. Credit Guarantee (Collateral-Free Lending)

• •Loans up to ₹2 crore to eligible MSME-registered borrowers are covered under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme — no collateral security is required.
• •For FPO-led projects, credit guarantee is available through NABSanrakshan instead of CGTMSE.
• •The guarantee coverage fee is borne by the Government for a maximum of 7 years.

E. Margin / Promoter's Contribution

A minimum of 10% of the project cost is mandatory as the promoter's own contribution.

F. Repayment & Moratorium

Repayment period: maximum 7 years, including a moratorium of 6 months to 2 years, decided project-to-project based on the nature of the infrastructure and its cash-flow cycle.

G. Fund Utilisation So Far

As on 30 June 2025, a total of ₹66,310 crore has been sanctioned under AIF for 1,13,419 projects across India, mobilising a total investment of ₹1,07,502 crore in the agriculture sector — including 2,454 cold storage projects worth ₹8,258 crore.

1. 1Register on the AIF portal: Visit agriinfra.dac.gov.in and register as an applicant, selecting the appropriate entity type (Farmer, FPO, PACS, SHG, Agri-entrepreneur, etc.).
2. 2Prepare and submit the project report: Fill in project details, cost estimates, and financial projections on the portal; the DPR should establish technical and financial viability.
3. 3Choose a lending institution: The portal connects applicants with around 150 empanelled banks/financial institutions (public and private sector banks, RRBs, cooperative banks, NBFCs). The application is routed to the applicant's bank of choice for appraisal.
4. 4Bank appraisal and sanction: The lending bank examines the project's technical and financial viability per its own credit policy; State Level and District Level Monitoring Committees provide oversight and support for project facilitation.
5. 5Approval: Once documentation is complete, approval is typically granted within 15 to 30 days, and the sanctioned project is synced to the AIF portal.
6. 6First disbursement: The interest subvention clock (up to 7 years) starts from the date of first disbursement, which must fall on or after 8 July 2020.
7. 7Ongoing subvention & guarantee claims: The lending bank manages interest subvention and CGTMSE/NABSanrakshan credit-guarantee claims on a quarterly basis throughout the loan tenure.
8. 8Compliance & monitoring: The Ministry of Agriculture conducts physical inspections of funded units to verify that funds are used as intended and the project aligns with AIF objectives. Discrepancies or false claims can lead to penalties and clawback of interest subsidy already availed.