Priority sector lending for Agriculture Sector - Get business & Product Information

Farm Credit – Individual farmers

Loans to individual farmers [including Self Help Groups (SHGs) or Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) and Proprietorship firms of farmers, directly engaged in Agriculture and Allied Activities, viz. dairy, fishery, animal husbandry, poultry, bee-keeping and sericulture.
This will include :

• Crop loans including loans for traditional/non-traditional plantations, horticulture and allied activities.
• Medium and long-term loans for agriculture and allied activities (e.g. purchase of agricultural implements and machinery and developmental loans for allied activities).
• Loans for pre and post-harvest activities viz. spraying, harvesting, grading and transporting of their own farm produce.
• Loans to distressed farmers indebted to non-institutional lenders.
• Loans under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme.
• Loans to small and marginal farmers for purchase of land for agricultural purposes.
• Loans against pledge/hypothecation of agricultural produce (including warehouse receipt1) for a period not exceeding 12 months subject to a limit up to ₹50 lakh.
• Loans to farmers for installation of solar power plants on barren/fallow land or in stilt fashion on agriculture land owned by farmer.

Farm Credit - Corporate farmers

• Corporate farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)/(FPC) Companies of Individual Farmers, Partnership firms and Co-operatives of farmers engaged in Agriculture and Allied Activities.

Agriculture Infrastructure

• Loans for agriculture infrastructure will be subject to an aggregate sanctioned limit of ₹100 crore per borrower from the banking system. List of activities is furnished in Annex II.

Ancillary Services

Following loans under ancillary services will be subject to limits prescribed as under :

• Loans up to ₹5 crore to co-operative societies of farmers for purchase of the produce of members (Not applicable to UCBs)
• Loans up to ₹50 crore to Start-ups, as per definition of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India that are engaged in agriculture and allied services.
• Loans for Food and Agro-processing up to an aggregate sanctioned limit of ₹100 crore per borrower from the banking system.

Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs)

For the purpose of computation of achievement of the sub-target, Small and Marginal Farmers will include the following:

• Farmers with landholding of up to 1 hectare (Marginal Farmers).
• Farmers with a landholding of more than 1 hectare and up to 2 hectares (Small Farmers).
• Landless agricultural labourers, tenant farmers, oral lessees and share-croppers whose share of landholding is within the limits prescribed for SMFs.
• Loans to Self Help Groups (SHGs) or Joint Liability Groups (JLGs), i.e. groups of individual SMFs directly engaged in Agriculture and Allied Activities, provided banks maintain disaggregated data of such loans.
• Loans up to ₹2 lakh to individuals solely engaged in Allied activities without any accompanying land holding criteria.
• Loans to FPOs/FPC of individual farmers and co-operatives of farmers directly engaged in Agriculture and Allied Activities where the land-holding share of SMFs is not less than 75 per cent, subject to loan limits prescribed in para 8.2. UCBs are not permitted to lend to co-operatives of farmers.