Under the Pilot Project of World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in cooperative sector, godowns at Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) level have been constructed in 11 PACS of 11 States namely Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, Telangana, Tripura and Rajasthan, with the support of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) & NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS). Out of 11 constructed storage 3 have been kept by PACS for their own use in the state of Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana. 3 have been hired by State/Central agencies in the State of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

    Further, the Pilot Project has been extended and more than 500 additional PACS have been identified as on 21.11.2024 across the country for construction of godowns under World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector.

    Under the Plan, subsidies and interest subvention are given to PACS through convergence of various existing Government of India schemes, like Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), etc. Under AIF Scheme 3% interest subvention is provided for the project up to Rs. 2 crore with loan repayment period of 2+5 years. Further, under AMI Scheme 33.33% subsidy is provided to PACS for construction of storage units. Moreover, under the AMI scheme Margin Money requirement for PACS has been reduced from 20% to 10%. Apart from assistance for Storage Infrastructure on Capital Cost (including ancillaries like Boundary Wall, Drainage, etc.), now there is additional subsidy to PACS on ancillaries that is restricted to a maximum 1/3rd of the total permissible subsidy of the godown component or actual whichever is lower.

   Under the Pilot Project, construction of 11 storage godowns in 11 PACS of 11 States with a total of 9,750 MT storage capacity has been completed.

    This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. 

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RK/VV/ASH//RR/PR/PS 963