India has achieved a milestone of covering more than 1.5 crore farmers under Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) scheme and sanctioned aggregate credit limit of ₹1.35 lakh crore to them.

It maybe recalled that as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Package, the government had announced intent to cover 2.5 crore farmers under the KCC scheme with a credit boost of ₹2 lakh crore through a special saturation drive.

“As a result of concerted and sustained efforts by the banks and other stakeholders in the direction of providing access to concessional credit by the farmers, including Fishermen and Dairy farmers, a major milestone target of covering more than 1.5 crore farmers under KCC, with sanctioned credit limit of ₹1.35 lakh crore has been achieved,” an official release said.

Interest and repayment option

The KCC Scheme was introduced in 1998 with the objective of providing adequate and timely credit to the farmers for their agricultural operation. The Central government provides interest subvention of 2 per cent and Prompt Repayment Incentive of 3 per cent to the farmers, thus making the credit available at a very subsidised rate of 4 per cent per annum.

Government had taken major farmer friendly steps by extending the benefits of KCC with interest subvention in 2019 to Animal Husbandry including Dairy and Fisheries farmers for their working capital requirement and raising the existing limit of collateral free agriculture loan from ₹1 lakh to ₹1.60 lakh.

“While ensuring convenient and cost-effective credit delivery to farmers, the ongoing campaign will also be instrumental in driving the rural economy and further accelerating agricultural production and allied activities, besides enhancing the income level of farmers. This will also go a long way in fulfilling the objective of food security for our country,” the release added.