Cabinet approves fund for agri market infra development

New Delhi: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved creation of a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore for Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund (AMIF) for developing and upgrading marketing infrastructure in Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAM) and regulated wholesale markets.

The AMIF to be created with the National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD) will provide states subsidised loans to develop marketing infrastructure in 585 Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) markets and 10,000 GrAMs.

States may also access the AMIF for innovative integrated market infrastructure projects including 'Hub and Spoke' mode and in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

In these GrAMs, physical and basic infrastructure will be strengthened using government schemes including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

After approval of the AMIF Scheme, the interest subsidy will be provided by the Agriculture Ministry to the NABARD in alignment with annual budget releases during 2018-19 and 2019-20 as well as up to 2024-25.

The scheme being demand driven, its progress is subject to the demands from the states and proposals received from them.

(With inputs from IANS)