New Delhi: The Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday asked banks to promote Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) for creation of necessary infrastructure in the farm sector.

The AIF is a financing facility launched on July 8, 2020 for creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farm assets. Under this scheme, Rs 1 lakh crore is to be disbursed by financial year 2025-26 and the interest subvention and credit guarantee assistance will be given till the year 2032-33.

According to an official statement, Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja on Wednesday launched a new campaign for banks under Agri Infra Fund titled BHARAT (Banks Heralding Accelerated Rural & Agriculture Transformation).

"This one month-long campaign (from July 15 to August 15) with a target of Rs 7,200 crore was launched through video conference attended by more than 100 banking executives that included MDs/Chairman, EDs of commercial banks in public and private sector, Regional Rural Banks, Small Finance Banks, NBFCs and select cooperative banks," the statement said.

The secretary asked all the banks to achieve targets considering the vast potential for agri infra projects in our country.

The banks were also advised to carry out an assessment of impact of the projects created under the scheme at the ground level.

Samuel Praveen Kumar, Joint Secretary (AIF), highlighted the progress made since the inception of this ambitious flagship scheme.

In his welcome address, he complimented the banks for their active involvement and support to promote this scheme which has resulted in creation of more than 31, 850 agri infra projects in the country with Rs 24,750 crore as loan amount under AIF with an outlay of Rs 42,000 crore.

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