Modi govt okays subsidised loans worth Rs 3,971.31 crore for micro-irrigation projects

The Union Agriculture Ministry on Friday said it has given nod for subsidised loans worth Rs 3,971.31 crore for implementing micro-irrigation projects, and maximum loan has been approved for Tamil Nadu.

The interest subvented loans are being offered under Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) created with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for implementing micro-irrigation projects.

This fund with a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore was operationalised in 2019-20 fiscal with an objective to facilitate states in availing subsidised loans for expanding coverage of micro-irrigation.

In a statement, the ministry said the steering committee of MIF has approved projects for loan worth Rs 3,971.31 crore.

Out of this, maximum loan of Rs 1,357.93 crore has been approved for Tamil Nadu, followed by Rs 790.94 crore for Haryana, Rs 764.13 crore for Gujarat, Rs 616.13 crore for Andhra Pradesh, Rs 276.55 crore for West Bengal, Rs 150 crore for Punjab and Rs 15.63 crore for Uttarakhand, it said.

However, NABARD has so far released a total loan amount of Rs 1,754.60 crore to the states. Of this, about Rs 659.70 crore has been released to Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

About Rs 616.13 crore loan has been released to Andhra Pradesh, Rs 937.47 crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs 21.57 crore to Haryana and Rs 179.43 crore to Gujarat so far, it added.

Under the MIF, subsidised loans are provided for not only taking up special and innovative projects but also for incentivising micro-irrigation beyond the provisions available under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (Per Drop More Crop) to encourage farmers to install micro-irrigation systems.