What happened
The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has amended the Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) scheme to align it with the cooperative-sector grain storage plan approved in the 2nd Inter-Ministerial Committee meeting on the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in the Cooperative Sector held on 23 October 2024. The revision is meant to improve the financial viability of storage construction and related support infrastructure for cooperative institutions.
What changed in the scheme
The amendments reported in the official communication change the economics of building grain storage under the AMI framework:
The margin money requirement has been reduced, which lowers the upfront equity burden on implementing agencies and cooperatives.
The construction cost norms have been revised upward for both plain areas and northeastern states, reflecting higher admissible project costs under the updated plan.
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