Cabinet clears big push for rural lending, food infra, and railway expansion

The scheme, titled Grant-in-Aid to NCDC, will be implemented over four years from FY26 to FY29.

With this infusion, the NCDC is expected to mobilise around ₹20,000 crore from financial markets.

The enhanced capital will support lending to approximately 2.9 crore members from 13,288 cooperative societies across sectors such as dairy, fisheries, livestock, sugar, food processing, textiles, cold storage, labour, and women-led cooperatives.

₹6,520 cr approved for pm kisan Sampada Yojana till FY26

In a separate decision, the Cabinet sanctioned a ₹6,520 crore outlay for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) during the ongoing 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021–22 to 2025–26).

This includes an additional allocation of ₹1,920 crore to support food processing infrastructure.

Of the total outlay, ₹1,000 crore has been earmarked to set up 50 multi-product food irradiation units under the Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure component of PMKSY.

Another ₹920 crore will be directed toward various other schemes under PMKSY, including the establishment of 100 NABL-accredited food testing laboratories to strengthen food safety and quality assurance.

Preservation, safety capacity to get a major upgrade

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, briefing the media after the cabinet meeting, said the 50 new irradiation units will create a preservation capacity of 20 to 30 lakh metric tonnes annually, depending on the types of food processed.

“The 100 new NABL-accredited food testing labs in the private sector will improve infrastructure for food sample testing and help ensure safer food supply chains,” Vaishnaw added.