Kerala Bank disburses Agri Loans upto 2 Cr with interest subsidy
Kerala State Cooperative Bank (Kerala Bank) disburses agriculture loans up to Rs 2 crore under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) on low rate of interest to farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs, agri-startups, Farmers Producer Organisations (FPO) Self Help Groups (SHGs) and cooperative societies (other than Primary Agricultural Credit Societies-PACS).
Kerala Bank sanctions AIF loan to the farmers at 6 per cent interest with interest subsidy of up to 3 per cent for increasing the income and job opportunities of farmers. The AIF loan given only to PACS is now being disbursed to individuals and cooperative societies other than PACS. A maximum of 90 per cent of the project cost or Rs 2 crore is given to one unit as AIF loan. The loan can be utilized for production of Value Added Products.
Besides, short term and long term agricultural loans on low interest rates are sanctioned to famers by Kerala Bank. Ksheera Mithra loan which sanctions up to Rs 2 lakh is available for dairy farmers, while working capital loan and long term loan on low interest rates with Government subsidy is available for farmers cultivating fishes like Pearl spot, Barramundi,shrimp and whiteleg shrimp fish cultivation and for those indulged in cage fish farming.The loan is given for buying vehicles which are equipped with cold storage facilities and are used for selling fishes.
The whole activities are planned by the Bank in such a way that one-third of its total loan bouquet will be in the agriculture sector in 2025-26. The Bank disbursed a total of 99,200 new loans in the agriculture sector last fiscal.
The maximum number of loans under various projects to PACS under AIF in India has been disbursed by the Kerala Bank.