Lok Sabha Question No. 2684 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-11
Subject: e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Shri Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed

## (a):

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.2684 TO BE ANSWERED ON lITH DECEMBER, 2024

## E-KISAN UPAJ NIDHI

## 2684. SHRI MUHAMMED HAMDULLAH SAYEED:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION WIkI  wa,  aTV aT tIT##fiq neWI ++ be pleased to state:

- (a) the objectives and key features of e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi  (Digital  Gateway);
- (b) the criteria  and procedures for  farmers to  avail of  Post-harvest pledge finance under this initiative;
- (C) the total number of farmers benefited from this scheme so far, State/UT-wise; and
- (d) the steps being taken by the Government to create awareness among farmers about the initiative?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

(SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA)

1. E-Kisan Upaj Nidhi (Digital Gateway) herein after called e-KUN, is an online platform to  facilitate the farmers to  obtain post-harvest loans from banks against electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (e-NWRs). The e-KUN  is expected to boost post-harvest pledge  financing  to  farmers. This  will provide  them  sufficient liquidity  and help  in deferring  sale of  their harvested produce to a more opportune time when it could fetch better prices. Thus, distress sale can be reduced.
2. 2 Further, e-KUN  can reduce the turnaround time  for pledge loans through  seamless transfer of  data between various stakeholders like  banks, UIDAI. CBDT,  Credit information  bureaus, repositories  of Warehousing Development  Regulatory Authority (WDRA) etc. The portal also provides a wider choice of  banks to the fanners.  Farmer can choose a bank of his choice based on rate of interest, loan amount, etc. offered by the bank.

- (b): The farmer will  first have to register himself with  his repository account details issued to him by the repository authorized by WDRA. The portal will  authenticate details through electronically integrated data bases of UIDAI,  CBDT, Repository, etc. The Rule engine of the portal  provides the farmer details of loans offered  by Various banks onboarded on the portal.  Once the farmer chooses a bank's offer,  the portal  sends the information  to the selected bank for due diligence. The Rule engine also examines the farmer credit details like CIBIL  score, KCC  account, etc. to enable the bank to process and sanction the loan. After the bank issues the sanction letter  electronically,  the farmer can go to  the bank to  sign the documents and get the loan amount disbursed.
- (c): State/UT wise number of farmers applied for loan on e-KUN portal as on 02.12.2024 are as under  :
- (d): The Government has been continuously pursuing with  all the stakeholders to spread awareness about e-KUN  :-
1.  Secretary, DFPD  has requested Chief  Secretaries of  State Governments/advisors of UTs and Chairman NAB ARD  for popularizing e-KUN portal.
2. Secretary, DFPD  has requested Chief  Secretaries of State Governments/advisors of UTs and Chairman NAB ARD  to include e-KUN  as an agenda item  in  State Level Bankers' cornmittee (SLBC)  and District Level Bankers' Committee (DLBC)  to widely disseminate the features of e-KUN so that the farmers in the State can avail the benefit.

| State          | Number of farmers   |
|----------------|---------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh |                     |
| Gujarat        | 5                   |
| Karnataka      |                     |
| Madhya Pradesh | 2                   |
| Mjasthan       | 10                  |
| Total          | 19                  |

3.  Secretary, DFPD  has requested Chief  Secretaries of  State Governments/advisors  of UTs to organize awareness programmes by Agricultural universities in the state on e-KUN  for  farmers/Farmer producer Organizations (FPOs), Krishi  Vigyan  Kendra (KVKs)  and state co-operation  Department.
4.  WDRA  has requested all Public  Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Small Finance Banks and Regional Rural Banks to 'On-board on e-KUN  platform'.
5.  e-KUN  has been incorporated in  the syllabus of  Farmer Awareness Programmes (FAP) organized by WDRA  for farmers through its various training partners.

8 q: +  +  8