Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres Statistics: Trained Agripreneurs and Ventures Set Up

What the numbers show

The Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres (AC&ABC) scheme has trained 94,276 agriculture graduates and diploma holders since 2002-03, and 41,587 of them have gone on to set up their own agri-clinic or agri-business centre. These figures, up to 2024-25, come from a written reply of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 4275, answered on 19 August 2025.

A venture counts as successful only if it was set up after the training, with self-finance or a bank loan, and is certified by the Project Director of ATMA, a Krishi Vigyan Kendra or a nearby agricultural research station.

The trend over the years

Training numbers rose steadily for most of the scheme's life, from 2,400 in 2002-03 to a peak of 7,340 in 2019-20. They fell sharply to 1,190 in 2020-21, the first COVID year, when residential courses were disrupted. Training recovered to 5,669 in 2021-22 and has stayed between about 4,500 and 5,000 a year since then: 4,794 in 2022-23, 4,964 in 2023-24 and 4,529 in 2024-25.

Ventures established in a year do not track trainees from the same year, because many candidates take months to get a loan sanctioned. That is why 2020-21 shows 2,475 ventures set up against only 1,190 people trained.

State differences

The scheme is heavily concentrated. Maharashtra alone accounts for 26,136 trainees and 13,238 centres, and Uttar Pradesh for 20,961 trainees and 10,071 centres. Tamil Nadu is a distant third. Several north-eastern states have trained only a few dozen candidates, and Mizoram has 52 trainees but no centre set up.

What the figures do not tell you

The count of ventures is cumulative and does not say how many are still running today. It also does not show the size of each business, the loan amount or the subsidy paid. The government has set a target success rate of 35% of trained candidates from 2025 onwards and says weak access to bank credit is the biggest hurdle.

Where to check the numbers

MANAGE, Hyderabad runs the scheme's MIS at acabcmis.gov.in. Updated year-wise and state-wise totals usually appear in answers to Parliament questions from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

How many people have been trained under the ACABC scheme?

94,276 persons were trained under the Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres scheme from 2002-03 to 2024-25, according to a Lok Sabha answer of 19 August 2025.

How many trained candidates have actually started a business?

41,587 trained candidates had set up agri-clinics or agri-business centres from 2002-03 to 2024-25. The government told Parliament that difficulty in getting bank credit, higher studies and other jobs are the main reasons some trainees do not start a venture.

Which state has the most ACABC agripreneurs?

Maharashtra leads with 26,136 persons trained and 13,238 centres set up, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 20,961 trained and 10,071 centres, and Tamil Nadu with 10,085 trained and 5,091 centres.

How many candidates were trained in 2024-25?

4,529 candidates were trained in 2024-25 and 1,699 candidates established ventures in the same year.

Is there a target for the ACABC success rate?

Yes. The Ministry of Agriculture told the Lok Sabha that from 2025 onwards the target success rate is 35% of total trained candidates.