{"id":37480,"date":"2026-03-12T05:40:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/?p=37480"},"modified":"2026-03-12T05:40:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:10:45","slug":"kisan-credit-card-fueling-growth-in-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/udaen.info\/?p=37480","title":{"rendered":"Kisan Credit Card: Fueling Growth in Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kisan Credit Card: Fueling Growth in Agriculture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n


Strengthening Farmers\u2019 access to capital<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

PIB Delhi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text Box: Key Takeaways<\/strong>The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) provides timely, affordable, and collateral-free credit to farmers, including small, marginal, tenant farmers and SHGs\/JLGs.Under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS), the loan limit has been enhanced to Rs. 5 lakh, with collateral-free credit raised to Rs. 2 lakh per borrower.Over 7.72 crore KCCs are active nationwide, with outstanding loans of about Rs. 10.2 lakh crore.The KCC platform has onboarded 457 banks and received more than 1,998.7 lakh applications across commercial, regional, rural, and cooperative banks<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agriculture and allied activities sector have historically formed the backbone of the Indian economy, making substantial contributions to national income, employment generation, and rural livelihoods. With nearly 46.1 per cent<\/strong> of the population dependent on agriculture and allied activities for their sustenance, ensuring financial security and improved access to institutional credit for farmers remains a central policy priority for the Government. In this context, a set of targeted interventions has been introduced to strengthen agricultural finance, with particular emphasis on expanding and modernizing the Kisan Credit Card (KCC).<\/strong>The Revised Kisan Credit Card (2020) <\/strong>scheme seeks to ensure that farmers have access to adequate and timely credit <\/strong>for a wide range of agricultural requirements, including short-term crop cultivation, post-harvest operations, marketing-related expenses, household consumption needs, working capital for farm maintenance, and investment credit for allied and non-farm activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evolution of Kisan Credit Card and its Features<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) <\/strong>Scheme, introduced in 1998, was designed to simplify and expedite farmers\u2019 access to short-term institutional credit for crop production. It provides working capital and investment credit for allied activities and covers post-harvest and marketing expenses, thereby offering comprehensive financial support to enhance farm incomes. To further improve the affordability of credit under the KCC, the Government launched the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) as a Central Sector Scheme <\/strong>in 2006\u201307. <\/strong>The scheme ensures farmers have access to credit at affordable rates through the Kisan Credit Card (KCC). The scheme also supports farmers in recovering from natural calamities and promotes timely loan repayment, thereby easing overall financial stress. Over time, it expanded to cover allied and non-farm activities, with the Revised KCC Scheme (2020)<\/strong> providing integrated, single-window credit support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revised KCC offers a RuPay-enabled card<\/strong> with flexible withdrawals, digital payments, and one-time documentation, making access to credit simple and efficient. It covers cultivation, post-harvest needs, allied, <\/strong>and non-farm activities<\/strong>, and is implemented through commercial, regional rural, and cooperative banks to ensure broad outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eligible Beneficiaries of the Kisan Credit Card<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme covers a wide range of farmer categories to promote inclusive and equitable access to institutional credit. It extends coverage to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • individual farmers and joint borrowers who are owner-cultivators,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • tenant farmers, oral lessees, and sharecroppers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • In addition, the scheme also includes\u00a0Self Help Groups (SHGs)<\/strong>\u00a0and Joint Liability Groups\u00a0(JLGs),<\/strong>\u00a0including groups formed by tenant farmers and sharecroppers,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    thereby ensuring broader financial inclusion across diverse farming communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Onboarding of Farmers through the KCC application                                                                              <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To streamline farmer onboarding and improve access to institutional credit, facilitative measures have been implemented under the Kisan Credit Card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • A\u00a0simplified one-page KCC application<\/strong>\u00a0form has been introduced, with basic applicant details pre-filled from banks\u2019 PM-KISAN records, and farmers are required to submit copies of land records and information on the crops cultivated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The form is widely disseminated through\u00a0national newspaper advertisements<\/strong>\u00a0and made available for download on the websites of all Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (agricoop.gov.in), and the\u00a0PM-KISAN portal<\/strong>\u00a0(pmkisan.gov.in).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Common Service Centres (CSCs)<\/strong>\u00a0have been authorized to assist in completing and\u00a0digitally transmitting applications<\/strong>\u00a0to the concerned bank branches, thereby expanding outreach.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Kisan Rin Portal: Digital transformation of KCC implementation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      To strengthen the implementation and monitoring of the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme<\/strong>, the Government launched the Kisan Rin Portal (KRP)<\/strong> in September 2023 as a unified digital platform that integrates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      • farmer profiles,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • loan disbursement data,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • interest subvention claims, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • scheme performance metrics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        For farmers,<\/strong> the portal simplifies access to low-cost institutional credit, expands coverage to allied activities such as dairy, poultry, fisheries, and beekeeping, and enables faster loan processing through seamless digital integration with banks and cooperative institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        For banks and lending agencies,<\/strong> KRP facilitates the automated submission and processing of Interest Subvention (IS) and Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI) claims, reduces delays through end-to-end digitization, and enhances transparency and accountability<\/strong> in claim verification and settlement. Overall, the portal has significantly improved operational efficiency, monitoring, and transparency in agricultural credit administration.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Enhancing Farmers\u2019 Access to Affordable Credit under MISS and KCC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

         In 2025\u201326<\/strong>, the Government of India enhanced the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) lending limit, which includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        • the crop\u00a0loan limit under MISS,<\/strong>\u00a0which has been\u00a0raised from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5\u00a0<\/strong>lakh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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          the credit limit for fisheries and allied activities has been increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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          • the\u00a0collateral-free credit limit<\/strong>\u00a0has\u00a0increased from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 2 lakh per borrower<\/strong>, effective from\u00a01 January 2025<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Short-term agri-loans up to Rs\u00a03 lakh<\/strong>\u00a0are available at\u00a07% interest,<\/strong>\u00a0with an additional\u00a03% subvention<\/strong>\u00a0for timely repayment, reducing the effective rate to 4%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Credit Limit and Loan provisions under KCC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), term loans and composite credit limits are structured differently for marginal and non-marginal farmers, taking into account their landholding size, investment capacity,<\/strong> and livelihood requirements<\/strong>. While non-marginal farmers<\/strong> are provided asset-linked term loans for long-term agricultural and allied investments, marginal farmers<\/strong> are provided with flexible, need-based credit limits that integrate short-term production credit, consumption needs, and minor investment requirements within a single composite Kisan Credit Card limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Provisions for all farmers other than marginal farmers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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            Provisions for Marginal Farmers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            A flexible limit of Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000<\/strong> may be sanctioned based on factors such as landholding size and cropping patterns. The composite KCC limit is to be fixed for a period of five years. In cases where higher credit is required due to changes in cropping patterns or scale of finance, the limit may be revised in accordance with prescribed estimation norms. This limit is designed to cover:<\/p>\n\n\n\n