Rs 15000 Crore Animal husbandry infrastructure fund approved by the cabinet
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, has approved setting up of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund worth Rs. 15000 crore. Atma Nirbhar Bharat stimulus package was having this fund for the dairy sector..
Government has been implementing several schemes for incentivizing the investment made by dairy cooperative sector for development of dairy infrastructure. Government realizes that even Private companies also need to be incentivized for their involvement in processing and value addition infrastructure. AHIDF would facilitate much needed incentivisation of investments in establishment of infrastructure for dairy and meat processing. This would cover establishment of animal feed plant in the private sector also. The eligible beneficiaries would be Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), MSMEs, Section 8 Companies and Private Companies. The scheme would also cover entrepreneur with minimum 10% margin money contribution by them. Schedule banks will provide the balance 90% loan portion..
Government of India will provide 3% interest subvention to eligible beneficiaries. There will be 2 years moratorium period for principal loan amount and 6 years repayment period thereafter.
Private sector Inclusion :Government of India would also set up Credit Guarantee Fund of Rs 750 crore. Nabarad will be managing this fund. Guarantee Coverage would be upto 25% of Credit facility of borrower.
There is huge potential waiting to be unlocked in investment through private sector. The INR 15,000 cr. Such investments in processing and value addition infrastructure by eligible beneficiaries would also promote export of these value added commodities.
Since, almost 50-60% of final value of dairy output in India flows back to farmers. This way growth in this sector can have significant direct impact on farmer’s income. Thus, investment incentivization in AHIDF would leverage 7 times private investment . It would also motivate farmers to invest more on inputs thereby driving higher productivity leading to increase in their income. The measures approved today through AHIDF would also help in direct and indirect livelihood creation for 35 lakh.