Agriculture Credit Target Increased To INR 20 Lakh Crore

In order to give boost to the agriculture sector of the country, the Union Budget for 2023-24 on Wednesday proposed to set up digital public infrastructure for agriculture and creating an accelerator fund for agriculture start-ups in rural areas among other new initiatives for the sector.

The digital infra will be built as an open source to enable farmer-centric solutions such as crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence and support for growth of agri-tech industry and startups.

While addressing the Budget session in Parliament, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The fund will aim at bringing innovative and affordable solutions for challenges faced by farmers. It will also bring in modern technologies to transform agricultural practices, increase productivity and profitability.”

The Minister also announced that the agriculture credit target will be increased to INR 20 lakh crore with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries. This is an important instrument to provide higher farm loans at subsidised rates to the farming community. The government has a target of Rs 18 lakh crore of agri credit for 2022-23.

The government will also launch a new sub-scheme of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with targeted investment of  INR 6,000 crore to further enable activities of fishermen, fish vendors and micro and small enterprises, improve value chain efficiencies and expand the market.

Industry Reactions

Navneet Ravikar, Chairman & Managing Director, Leads Connect Services said that The allocation of funds through an accelerator and the three Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence plays a crucial and transformative role.

Ravikar said, “The budget marks a major milestone in the growth of the agritech sector. With its emphasis on a tech-driven and knowledge-based path, the budget provides a strong lift to startups in the space. The clear focus on technology gives us the strength to carry our work forward on crop yield estimation and loss assessment using drones, spacetech, and mobile interfaces.”

“The allocation of funds through an accelerator and the three Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence plays a crucial and transformative role. The fund provides the impetus for young entrepreneurs to bring much-needed innovation to rural areas. Meanwhile, the Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India centres will lend themselves to cutting-edge research that improves agricultural practices, efficiency, and scalability. We have started setting up the Leads Aerospace division with the manufacturing of next-generation drones, IoT, and microsatellites, along with an AI and advanced data analytics lab as the focal point. We also appreciate the ease with which farmers in the dairy value chain and fisheries can obtain credit. However, taking a cue from this, agri-fintechs and the government should jointly work on increasing awareness among the farming community,” he added.

Meanwhile,  Aneesh Jain, Founder, Gram Unnati said, “The budget is a game changer for the agriculture sector in India. The government has taken bold steps in digitising the sector with the creation of an open-source digital public infrastructure and accelerator fund. The push for a green plant programme hits the nail on the head for boosting productivity and profitability, and the increase in credit will provide much-needed financial support to the industry. The plan for decentralised storage capacity will empower farmers to store their produce and receive fair prices. Overall, this budget will play a crucial role in modernising and revitalising the agriculture sector in India, bringing economic growth to rural areas.”