Digitalisation is changing the experience of farmers who used to make multiple visits to banks and stand in long queues to avail agricultural credit.
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) in collaboration with Vadodara-based agri-fintech startup 24X7 Moneyworks Consulting, onboarded over 300,000 Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) applications across cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) since December, 2025.
“The eKCC portal is designed for cooperative banks, primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) and it is used for Aadhaar authentication of farmers, land record validation and loan limits based on crop details and area under cultivation,” Ranjeet Gautam, founder, MD & CEO, 24X7 Moneyworks Consulting, told FE. Gautam said that in less than a year the initiative has expanded across nearly 238 cooperative banks and around 32,000 PACS. Nearly 1.7 lakh KCC applications have been electronically onboarded through this cooperative network.
He said that farmers do know about the scale of finance available for each crop in the district and through the eKCC portal, they can find out their eligibility limits for agri-loans.
A KCC provides farmers with affordable credit for purchasing seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. A Nabard official said the eKCC has the potential to improve access, transparency, and efficiency in dispensing agricultural credit.
Nabard had acquired a 10% stake in 24×7 Moneyworks Consulting for an undisclosed amount, marking its first-ever investment in a bootstrapped startup. The start-up has also developed a digital platform to manage interest subvention claims under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, which ensures real-time validation and disbursement of these claims.
Bank officials said that conventional loan application processes for KCC holders are ‘fraught with inefficiencies,’ such as multiple visits to banks by farmers, long turnaround times of three-four weeks and being paper-based.
A KCC provides farmers with affordable credit for purchasing seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. Currently, there are 77.2 million operational KCC holders who have landholdings. This includes 2.4 lakh and 4.4 million KCCs issued to fisheries and animal husbandry activities, respectively.
In FY26, credit to the agriculture sector from commercial banks, cooperatives and regional rural banks crossed Rs 32.5 lakh crore, about 60% of which was for short-term crop loans. The rest was disbursed as investment loans in agriculture and allied sectors.
Under the modified interest subvention scheme (MISS) of the agriculture ministry, farmers holding KCCs are provided short-term agri-loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at 7% interest per annum to meet working capital requirements. The scheme provides an additional interest subvention of 3% for prompt repayment, reducing the effective rate of interest to 4%.