Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) Scheme

What is the Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) scheme?

The Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) scheme is a sub-scheme of the Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM), implemented by the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. According to DMI, AMI provides a subsidy to create scientific storage capacity and rural agricultural marketing infrastructure so that farmers can store produce safely, reduce post-harvest and distress-sale losses, and get better prices.

AMI is a credit-linked, back-ended subsidy scheme. The project must be financed by a term loan from a bank, and the government's subsidy is kept back and adjusted against that loan after the project is built and verified. This design ensures that only genuine, completed projects draw the benefit. The subsidy is routed through NABARD for most applicants, and through NCDC for cooperatives.

What AMI supports

• Scientific storage godowns to reduce post-harvest losses.
• Rural agricultural marketing infrastructure and related facilities.
• Grading, standardisation and quality-related infrastructure in the marketing chain (as covered by the guidelines).

Who is eligible for the AMI scheme?

AMI has a deliberately wide beneficiary base, but it is tied to setting up eligible infrastructure with a bank loan.

You can apply if you are:

• An individual farmer or a group of farmers.
• An agri-entrepreneur, proprietary or partnership firm, or company.
• A Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO), cooperative, self-help group, or NGO.
• A state agency or local body setting up eligible marketing infrastructure.

To qualify, the applicant must own or hold a long lease on the site, have a viable project report, and finance the project through a term loan. The subsidy is credit-linked, so a self-funded project without a loan does not qualify.

Who cannot apply / what is not eligible: A farmer seeking free cash support without building any infrastructure cannot apply, AMI is not an income-support scheme like a direct benefit transfer. Projects not financed by an eligible bank loan are not eligible, because the subsidy is back-ended against the loan. Storage projects outside the eligible capacity band set in the guidelines, and purely commercial ventures with no agricultural-marketing purpose, also fall outside the scheme. Applicants should confirm the current eligible capacity band and any category-specific conditions in the live DMI guidelines.

What subsidy does AMI provide?

AMI provides a credit-linked, back-ended subsidy of 25% of the capital cost for general applicants, rising to 33.33% for special categories — commonly the North-Eastern states, hilly and difficult areas, SC/ST beneficiaries, women, FPOs, cooperatives and registered panchayats. Storage projects are eligible for subsidy within a capacity band set in the guidelines, commonly from about 50 MT up to 5,000 MT per project, with a lower floor for hilly areas.

Because the exact per-project ceilings, the eligible capacity band and the list of special categories are laid down in the DMI operational guidelines (which have been revised more than once), the precise current figures should be read from the live guideline document on the DMI portal rather than assumed. The subsidy is not paid as cash to the applicant; it is adjusted against the bank loan after completion and inspection, effectively reducing what the applicant repays.

What documents are required for AMI?

How to apply for the AMI scheme

1. Prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the eligible storage or marketing infrastructure, with a cost estimate and land documents.
2. Approach a financing bank for a term loan for the project, the subsidy is credit-linked, so a sanctioned loan is essential.
3. Ensure the project is registered on the DMI / AMI online system as required under the scheme, so the subsidy claim can be tracked.
4. The bank forwards the subsidy claim to NABARD (or NCDC for cooperatives), which sanctions and keeps back the subsidy amount.
5. Complete construction of the godown or infrastructure as per the approved DPR within the permitted time.
6. After a joint inspection confirms the project, NABARD/NCDC releases the back-ended subsidy, which is adjusted against the loan account.

Help and where to verify

• Official portal: dmi.gov.in, under the AMI / ISAM scheme section, where the revised operational guidelines are published.
• The scheme does not run a dedicated citizen helpline; queries go through the DMI portal, the financing bank, and NABARD/NCDC.

Because AMI's subsidy rates, capacity bands and per-project ceilings are set in the DMI operational guidelines and have been revised over time, treat the current guideline document on the DMI portal as the authoritative source before finalising a project, especially the eligible capacity range and the special-category list.

How to check your application status

AMI does not work like a portal-based subsidy where an individual applicant logs in and tracks a case number, because the claim moves between the bank and the refinancing agency, not directly between the applicant and DMI. Status has to be chased at each stage of that chain.

1. At the bank stage (before the loan is sanctioned): Ask the branch that is processing the term loan for the file status. Since the subsidy is credit-linked, no subsidy action happens until the bank itself sanctions and disburses the loan, so the first checkpoint is simply the bank's own loan-processing status.
2. After loan disbursement, before construction: The bank is responsible for forwarding the subsidy claim to NABARD (for most applicants) or NCDC (for cooperatives). Ask the same branch, in writing if needed, whether the claim has actually been forwarded and what reference or claim number NABARD/NCDC has issued for it. Keep a copy of that forwarding letter or reference number, since it is the only tracking handle the applicant has.
3. During and after construction: Once the godown or infrastructure is built, a joint inspection has to be conducted before the back-ended subsidy is released. Follow up with the bank on when this inspection is scheduled, since delays here are the most common reason a completed project's subsidy stays pending.
4. At NABARD or NCDC: These are the agencies that actually sanction and hold back the subsidy amount. If the bank is unresponsive, the applicant (or the bank on the applicant's behalf) can write to the relevant NABARD regional office or NCDC office quoting the claim reference number obtained in step 2.
5. At the DMI level: For questions about the scheme guidelines themselves (eligible capacity bands, current subsidy rates, special-category conditions) rather than an individual claim, the DMI portal at dmi.gov.in is the place to check the current operational guidelines, since these have been revised more than once.

There is no SMS alert system or citizen-facing online tracker for individual AMI claims. The practical status trail is: bank file number, then NABARD/NCDC claim reference, then joint inspection date, then subsidy adjustment entry in the loan account. An applicant should ask the bank to confirm each of these four points in sequence rather than expecting a single tracking ID to cover the whole process.

Common reasons for rejection

Because AMI is credit-linked and back-ended, most rejections or stalled claims trace back to a mismatch between what the bank financed, what was actually built, and what the guidelines specify, rather than to a paperwork error in a form.

• No term loan, or the loan came from an ineligible source. AMI is not a stand-alone subsidy; it only attaches to a project financed by an eligible bank term loan. A self-financed project, or one funded through an informal or non-institutional loan, cannot draw the subsidy at all. Fix: arrange financing through a scheduled bank or eligible financial institution before applying, and confirm with the bank upfront that it participates in AMI subsidy routing.
• Storage capacity outside the eligible band. The scheme subsidises godowns within a specific capacity range set in the guidelines. A project built too small or too large to fall inside that band is not eligible for subsidy, even if it is otherwise a genuine storage facility. Fix: check the current capacity band in the live DMI guidelines before finalising the DPR, not after construction has started.
• Land title or lease not clearly established. If ownership documents are incomplete, disputed, or the lease is too short to be considered a valid long-term hold on the site, the claim can be held up or rejected. Fix: ensure the land documents are unambiguous and, where leased, that the lease term meets what the guidelines require before the DPR is submitted to the bank.
• Project deviates from the approved DPR. If what gets built differs materially from the detailed project report the bank and NABARD/NCDC sanctioned against, such as a different capacity, location, or structure, the joint inspection can flag the project as non-compliant. Fix: get any change to the project design or scale approved by the bank before construction, rather than after.
• Construction incomplete or inspection not requested in time. The back-ended subsidy is released only after a joint inspection confirms the completed project. Delaying the inspection request, or leaving the project partially built beyond the sanctioned timeline, stalls the release. Fix: notify the bank promptly once construction is complete and follow up to get the joint inspection scheduled without a long gap.
• Applicant category claimed without supporting proof. Claiming the higher 33.33% subsidy rate as a special category (SC/ST, women, FPO, cooperative, North-Eastern or hilly area) without the registration or category documents to back it up results in the claim being processed at the general rate or returned for correction. Fix: attach the specific registration or category certificate relevant to the claimed category at the time the bank forwards the claim, not afterward.
• Purely commercial venture with no agricultural-marketing link. Infrastructure that does not serve agricultural storage or marketing purposes, even if it is a warehouse, falls outside AMI's scope and gets excluded during scrutiny. Fix: make sure the DPR clearly establishes the agricultural-marketing use of the facility from the outset.