Budget 2020-21: Under the government’s plan of ‘Aspirational India,’ Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2020-21, announced a slew of measures for Indian farmers. Among many schemes, the minister has increased the limit of credit that can be granted to farmers to Rs 15 lakh crore for the next financial year. “Non-banking Financial Cooperatives (NBFCs) are active in the agricultural credit space. The NABARD finance scheme will be further expanded and agricultural credit target for the year 2020-21 has been set at Rs 15 lakh,” said Nirmala Sitharaman. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) provides funding for all agriculture-related activities and for rural development.
According to her, all eligible beneficiaries of PM-Kisan will be covered under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC). The Kisan Credit Card scheme was introduced in 1998 by Indian banks. The finance minister has announced these measures as a part of her 16 measures announced for India farming sector. In last year’s budget, the government had estimated Rs 18,000 crore spending towards interest subvention on short term crop loan. It has also allocated Rs 14,987 crore in the revised budget for the 2018-19 financial year.
Finance Minister had earlier ensured minimum support price (MSP) in times of steep fall in rates. She had proposed to increase the allocation by Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 3,000 crore for intervening in the market in such times under the Market Intervention Scheme and Price Support Scheme (MIS-PSS).
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Meanwhile, for the year 2020-21, the government will promote one horticulture crop in one district on a cluster basis, Sithraman said, adding that horticulture with 311 MT exceeded the production of food grains.