Kisan Credit Card or KCC is an initiative by the Indian Government to ensure that farmers of the country have access to credit at a reasonable rate. The scheme was introduced in August 1998 and was based on the recommendations of a special committee formed for inputs on loans & agricultural welfare.
However, even after 22 years, only 58 percent farmers are availing this scheme. Around 42 per cent of the farmers are out of this special loan scheme. They have to depend on the moneylenders of the villages for loans.
However, the government has made several efforts to give the benefit of KCC to more and more farmers. Not only this, the government also decided to give benefits of KCC to the people engaged in fisheries. Under this, Uttar Pradesh government has announced to give KCC to 1 lakh fish farmers of the state. 1 lakh fish farmers will be given KCC by 10 October.
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How much loan is available through KCC?
Significantly, in order to enable maximum number of people to take advantage of KCC, people engaged in animal husbandry and fisheries have also been included in it. You can get a loan of up to Rs 1.6 lakh without guarantee on KCC. However, the loan limit on this scheme is Rs 3 lakh. The Yogi government of UP is running a campaign to give the benefit of KCC to the farmers.
Fish farmers also eligible for KCC
The state government has announced KCC to 1 lakh fish farmers. With this, they will also be able to get loans up to Rs 1.6 lakh without guarantee. The state government has also ordered officials to benefit fromthis scheme.
How much is the Kisan credit card interest rate?
The loan taken on KCC is 9 percent interest rate. But the government gives a subsidy of 2 per cent to the farmers. In this way, the rate of interest on the loan of KCC is 7 percent. But if the farmers return the money within 1 year, then they will get 3% more discount. In this case, the rate of interest on the loan will remain only 4 percent. The farmers have to pay 8-9 per cent interest on the loan directly from the banks.
