The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), in collaboration with Chennai-based 24X7 Moneyworks Consulting, has developed the ekisancredit (eKCC) portal for rural banking institutions to ensure fast and timely disbursal of credits to holders of kisan credit cards (KCCs).
Through the portal, specifically designed for rural cooperative banks (RCBs) and regional rural banks (RRBs), farmers will be able to submit loan applications without visiting banks.
Currently, farmers need to visit bank branches multiple times to get agri-credit sanctioned. “Through using digital platforms, agri-loans to KCC holders can be sanctioned in a shorter time,” Ajay Sood, deputy MD, Nabard, told FE.
According to Sood, a pilot is being carried out for approval of loans using the eKCC platform in six states which would be expanded soon.
The eKCC portal uses Reserve Bank innovation hub’s unified lending interface for digital land records and centre for development of advanced computing for Aadhar authentication, eKYC, esign and Aadhar data vault for sanctioning loans to farmers.
Banking officials have stated that conventional loan application processes for KCC holders are ‘fraught with inefficiencies’ such as multiple visits to banks by farmers, long turnaround time of 3 – 4 weeks and predominantly paper-based processes.
“Pilot implementation of the portal in six states have demonstrated a significant reduction in processing time and operational costs,” according to an official note.
Onboarding all RCBs and RRBs is currently underway, with live issuance of KCCs in progress in the digital platform, officials said.
While commercial banks have made significant strides in digital transformation, rural banks often lag due to high implementation costs and limited technological capacity, according to an official note.
“eKCC has demonstrated the potential to improve access, transparency, and efficiency in dispensing agricultural credit. This will help cooperative banks, PACS and RRBs deliver faster, transparent, and more inclusive credit services to small and marginal farmers,” Shaji K.V., Chairman, NABARD, recently said.
Nabard had recently announced acquiring 10% equity in 24×7 Moneyworks consulting, for an unspecified amount.
Officials said the aim is to develop the portal into a comprehensive agri-credit platform through inclusion of loans products for dairy and fisheries, national fisheries digital platform and integration of kisan rin portal of agriculture ministry for automated interest subvention.
In FY25, commercial banks, cooperatives and regional rural banks had disbursed over Rs 28.98 lakh crore out of which around 60% was towards short-term crop loans and rest was towards investment loans in agriculture and allied sectors.
Officials said KCC is a banking product which provides farmers with timely and affordable credit for purchasing agricultural inputs including seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, as well as for meeting cash requirements related to crop production and allied activities.
At present, there are 77.1 million operational KCC holders who have landholdings. This includes 1.24 lakh and 4.44 million KCCs issued to fisheries and animal husbandry activities, respectively.
Under the modified interest subvention scheme of the agriculture ministry, farmers holding KCCs are provided loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at 7% interest per annum to meet working capital requirements. However, for FY26, the government has hiked the agri-credit limit to Rs 5 lakh annually.
The scheme provides additional interest subvention of 3% for prompt repayment, reducing the effective rate of interest to 4%.