K’taka: Govt to provide interest-free loans of upto Rs. 2 lakhs for dairy farming and fisheries

Bengaluru: The State’s Department of Co-operation has decided to grant interest-free loans of up to Rs 2 lakhs for those interested in dairy farming and fisheries.

This comes as good news for many in the State who have been unemployed recently due to the crisis induced by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Loans up to Rs 2 lakhs will be granted to those starting new dairy farming or fisheries enterprises and also as working capital to facilitate the development of dairy farming and fisheries enterprises of those already engaged in it.

The loans will be bundled with crop loans for up to Rs 3 lakhs in case if a farmer has already availed it. For example, if a farmer has availed a crop loan of Rs 1 lakh then he can avail Rs 2 lakhs from this new dairy farming or fisheries loan.

For loans up to Rs 1.6 lakhs, no land or property guarantee will be required. To avail more loan amount, guarantees from farmers co-operatives and dairy co-operatives will be required.

Farmers will be granted loans through agricultural cooperative societies and district cooperative banks. The loans will be issued at 7% interest. However, an interest subsidy of 3% from the Central government and 1% from the State government will make it a zero-interest loan for the beneficiary.

The cooperation department has instructed the designated banks to issue loans through the Kisan Credit Card. This allows farmers to borrow money from the bank under this loan scheme only when they need it.