Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)
The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a financing facility for building post-harvest infrastructure: warehouses, cold stores, grading and sorting units, primary processing centres, and assaying equipment. It works through banks — the fund provides an interest subvention on the loan and a credit guarantee for smaller loans, which makes a bank far more willing to lend for a project of this kind. It is aimed at farmer groups, FPOs, cooperatives, SHGs and agri-entrepreneurs more than at individual farmers, because the assets it funds only make sense at a shared scale.
What you get
Interest subvention on a bank loan for eligible post-harvest infrastructure, plus credit guarantee cover for smaller loans.
Who can apply
- Farmer Producer Organisations, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, cooperatives and marketing federations
- Self Help Groups, joint liability groups and farmer groups
- Agri-entrepreneurs, start-ups and central/state agency-sponsored public-private projects
- Individual farmers, for eligible post-harvest project types
How to apply
Register the project on the AIF portal, then take the sanctioned project to a participating bank. NABARD and the state nodal agency assist with project preparation.
Documents usually asked for
- Detailed project report
- Land documents or lease for the project site
- Entity registration documents (FPO, SHG, cooperative or firm)
- Bank account and KYC documents