Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Amit Shah, Union Home Minister expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching the Rs 1,00,000 cr ‘Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’ and for transferring Rs 17,000 cr to the accounts of 8.5 cr farmers under the ‘PM-Kisan’ scheme for the development of agriculture sector and rural areas. In a series of tweets, Amit Shah stated that the fund will accelerate the creation of many infrastructure projects such as cold storage, collection centers and processing units which will help farmers get the true value for their produce. The fund will also help to create new employment opportunities and will strengthen the rural economy. He added that the government has taken several unprecedented steps for doubling the income of farmers and for the development of the agriculture sector which will make Indian agriculture world class in the near future.
A win-win for all
Dr KC Ravi, Chief Sustainability Officer, Syngenta India Ltd lauded PM Narendra Modi, calling it another major step in strengthening Indian agriculture sector. Ravi said, “The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund shall provide debt financing facility for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets. What’s heartening is that the small farmers are at the core of this Rs 1 lakh crore fund. It shall empower them to take good care of their produce either by creating their own warehouse or giving it to those who pay them the best. Post harvest losses have been a major bane for small farmers and this program especially addresses this”.
He also believes that additional employment opportunities will be created, providing opportunities for agri-business startups to scale up their operations, in turn benefiting farmers which can be win-win for all.
A timely and visionary program
Sanjay Kumar, CEO & MD, Elior India is positive that the PM’s bid to boost the agriculture sector will help the agriculture sector and in turn benefit the Food and Beverage industry at large. He said, “The announcement by the Prime Minister of Rs 1 lakh crore being invested in the agriculture sector is indeed much needed. It is critical that we improve the agricultural productivity and reduce the waste of agricultural commodities in our country. What is heartening to note is that some of these funds will be used for building post-harvest technologies, facilities and for the development of warehousing infrastructure”.
Kumar, however, felt that the restoration of the input tax credit on food sales would compliment this scheme significantly. Consequently, investments being made in the supply chain infrastructure will become remunerative, because if those investments have to provide returns based on bank loans, then it becomes necessary for the transactions to be recorded. Presently, the GST regime favours cash transactions for purchase of agricultural commodities because of the removal of input tax credit.
Kumar also observed that whilst the government is investing in developing this infrastructure, the utility of that investment will basically be driven through private consumption. In order to enable that it becomes critical that the tax on food consumption is rationalised and input tax credit is restored.
This could also be a spin-off free private capital flowing into post-harvest technology and warehousing infrastructure development because it will then become critical to record your transaction and make sure that the investment which the bank is funding or private capital is funding is able to secure a return. At the same time, Kumar was ebullient about more such initiatives from the government that can make India a strong and radiant economy, as 70 per cent of India still depends on agriculture for its livelihood.
