FNB News - Budget - Proposal of Rs 3287.65 cr for MoFPI; agri accelerator fund, credit

You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here

TOP NEWS

Budget - Proposal of Rs 3287.65 cr for MoFPI; agri accelerator fund, credit

Thursday, 02 February, 2023, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi

The Union Finance Minister laid the budgetary proposals for the fiscal 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Finance Minister called the Budget a blueprint for India@100 (2047).

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set a budgetary proposal of Rs 3287.65 crore for the Ministry of Food Processing Industries for the fiscal 2023-24. However, the Budget proposal of the previous fiscal year was Rs 2941.99 crore while the actual revised budget for the fiscal 2022-23 was 1901.59 crore.

Meanwhile, for the current fiscal Rs. 2453.24 crore have been sanctioned for the Centrally-sponsored schemes including Pradhan Mantri Kissan Sampada Yojna (PMKSY) and Production Linked Incentive for Food Processing Industries (PLIFPI) wherein Rs.1530 crore have been proposed for PLI scheme and Rs. 923.24 crore is set for PMKSY.

Also, for the Prime Minister Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PM FME), the budgetary proposals are set for Rs. 639.05 crore.

According to the budgetary proposals under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana’, the provision is made for financing schemes of (a) Mega Food Parks Rs. 54.80 crore; (b) Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters Rs. 81.30 crore; (c) Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure Rs. 196.50 crore; (d) Creation/ Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities Rs. 320.00 crore; (e) Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages Rs. 5.39 crore; (f) Scheme for Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure Rs. 46.50 crore; (g) Scheme for Human Resources and Institutions Rs. 4.96 crore; (h) Committed liabilities under infrastructure related schemes; (i) Operation Greens Rs. 213.59 crore; and (j) Swachhta Action Plan Rs. 0.20 crore.

Budgetary highlights –

Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture

1. Digital public infrastructure for agriculture will be built as an open source, open standard and inter operable public good. This will enable inclusive, farmer-centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit, and insurance, help for crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for growth of agri-tech industry and start-ups.

Agriculture Accelerator Fund

2. An Agriculture Accelerator Fund will be set-up to encourage agri-startups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas. The Fund will aim at bringing innovative and affordable solutions for challenges faced by farmers. It will also bring in modern technologies to transform agricultural practices, increase productivity and profitability.

3. An Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Program to boost availability of disease-free, quality planting material for high value horticultural crops at an outlay of Rs 2,200 crore.

Agriculture Credit

4. The agriculture credit target will be increased to Rs. 20 lakh crore with focus on animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries.

Fisheries

5. A new sub-scheme of PM Matsya Sampada Yojana with targeted investment of Rs 6,000 crore to further enable activities of fishermen, fish vendors, and micro & small enterprises, improve value chain efficiencies, and expand the market.

Vivad se Vishwas I – Relief for MSMEs

6. In cases of failure by MSMEs to execute contracts during the Covid period, 95 per cent of the forfeited amount relating to bid or performance security, will be returned to them by government and government undertakings. This will provide relief to MSMEs.

Bhartiya Prakritik Kheti Bio-Input Resource Centres

7. Over the next 3 years, the Government will facilitate 1 crore farmers to adopt natural farming. For this, 10,000 Bio-Input Resource Centres will be set-up, creating a national-level distributed micro-fertiliser and pesticide manufacturing network.

Credit Guarantee for MSMEs

8. Last year, the Finance Minister proposed revamping the credit guarantee scheme for MSMEs. The revamped scheme will take effect from April 1, 2023, through infusion of ` 9,000 crore in the corpus. This will enable additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of Rs 2 lakh crore. Further, the cost of the credit will be reduced by about 1 per cent.

Marine products

9. In the last financial year, marine products recorded the highest export growth benefiting farmers in the coastal states of the country. To further enhance the export competitiveness of marine products, particularly shrimps, duty is being reduced on key inputs for domestic manufacture of shrimp feed.

MSMEs and Professionals

10. Micro enterprises with turnover up to Rs 2 crore and certain professionals with turnover of up to 50 lakh can avail the benefit of presumptive taxation. The Minister proposed to provide enhanced limits of Rs 3 crore and Rs 75 lakh respectively, to the taxpayers whose cash receipts are no more than 5 per cent. Moreover, to support MSMEs in timely receipt of payments, the minister proposed to allow deduction for expenditure incurred on payments made to them only when payment is actually made.

Global Hub for Millets: ‘Shree Anna’
11. The finance minister has also announced that to make India a global hub for 'Shree Anna' (Millets) the Indian Institute of Millet Research, Hyderabad will be supported as the Centre of Excellence for sharing best practices, research and technologies at the international level.