Bihar Krishi Yantra Anudan Yojana (Agricultural Mechanisation Scheme)

What is Bihar Krishi Yantra Anudan Yojana?

Bihar Krishi Yantra Anudan Yojana is the Agriculture Department's farm mechanisation subsidy, the state's route for putting tractors, seeders, threshers, harvesters, transplanters and dozens of smaller implements into farmers' hands at roughly 40 to 80 per cent off the purchase price. It is administered through OFMAS, the Online Farm Mechanisation Application Software, at farmech.bihar.gov.in, and it is funded largely under the centrally sponsored Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) with state support.

The scheme runs in four streams, each with a different ceiling:

• SMAM: direct subsidy to an individual farmer buying a machine.
• SMAM-FMB (Farm Machinery Bank), a group-owned machinery pool, subsidised at about 80 per cent up to Rs 8,00,000.
• SMAM-CHC (Custom Hiring Centre). A hiring centre run by progressive farmers or a collective, at about 40 per cent up to Rs 4,00,000.
• SMAM-SCHC (Special Custom Hiring Centre). A larger centre limited to Bihar's nine aspirational districts, at about 40 to 80 per cent up to Rs 12,00,000.

Two features shape how farmers use the scheme. First, machines manufactured in Bihar carry an extra 10 per cent subsidy, a deliberate push toward local manufacturing. Second, the portal maintains a register of approved manufacturers, around 389 at the time of checking, and you can only buy from a registered dealer if you want the subsidy.

Who is eligible for the Bihar farm machinery subsidy?

You can be sanctioned a permit if:

• You are a farmer resident in Bihar holding a valid 13-digit DBT Agriculture registration number from dbtagriculture.bihar.gov.in.
• You hold land records in your own name: LPC, jamabandi or a land revenue receipt — where the machine you have chosen carries a landholding condition.
• Your bank account is in your own name and Aadhaar-seeded, so DBT can reach it.
• You apply within a notified OFMAS window for the machine you want.
• For a group stream, you are a registered self-help group, farmer producer organisation, cooperative or society, applying under FMB, CHC or SCHC.

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe farmers, small and marginal farmers and women farmers are given higher subsidy percentages than the general category on many machines. The exact differential is printed against each machine in the year's notified list.

You are not eligible, or will be rejected, if:

• You have no DBT Agriculture registration number. This is an absolute bar, the OFMAS form will not open.
• You are not a resident farmer of Bihar.
• You bought the machine before approval, or from a dealer not registered on OFMAS. Retrospective claims are not entertained.
• Your bank account is not Aadhaar-seeded, is joint, or belongs to someone else.
• You are inside the cooling period after drawing subsidy on the same category of machine. Bihar bars repeat subsidy on the same machine type within the notified number of years.
• You apply for a Special Custom Hiring Centre from outside the nine aspirational districts, where that stream does not run.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Bihar Krishi Yantra Anudan Yojana

1. Register as a farmer on dbtagriculture.bihar.gov.in if you have not already. Enter your Aadhaar, verify by OTP, and add your bank and land details. You will receive a 13-digit registration number; note it down, because every Bihar agriculture subsidy runs off it. Registration is free and has no deadline.
2. Open farmech.bihar.gov.in and read the current year's machine price and subsidy list before anything else. Decide which machine you want, confirm its subsidy rate and rupee cap, and check whether a Bihar-made model gives you the extra 10 per cent.
3. Choose your stream on the OFMAS home page: SMAM for an individual purchase, or FMB / CHC / SCHC for a group.
4. Enter your 13-digit registration number, verify with the OTP sent to your registered mobile, and complete the application form with the machine and model you have selected.
5. Submit and save the application number. Applications are then scrutinised at the district level by the District Agriculture Officer.
6. Wait for approval and permit generation. Do not buy until the permit is issued; the permit carries a validity period, so act inside it.
7. Buy the machine from a dealer registered on OFMAS, pay the full price, and collect the invoice with the machine serial number.
8. Upload the invoice and serial number, and present the machine for physical verification by the agriculture officer.
9. Receive the subsidy by DBT into your Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

The offline route is not an alternative application channel but a support channel: your Block Agriculture Office, the Kisan Salahkar and the Coordinator at the block level will help you register on DBT Agriculture, read the machine list and fill the OFMAS form. Common Service Centres also assist for a small typing fee. The application itself is always filed online.

How much subsidy will I actually get?

The percentage is only half the answer; every machine also carries a rupee cap, and you receive whichever is lower. A machine with a 50 per cent rate and a Rs 60,000 cap costing Rs 2 lakh pays you Rs 60,000, not Rs 1 lakh. Read both columns in the notified list before you commit.

Three things add to your rate: belonging to the SC or ST category, being a small or marginal farmer or a woman farmer where the machine's list provides for it, and buying a machine manufactured in Bihar, which carries about 10 per cent extra.

Because the subsidy is reimbursed after purchase and verification, the farmer funds the full price up front. Plan for that gap, especially on high-value items such as harvesters, where the outlay before reimbursement is substantial.

How to check your application and payment status

1. Open farmech.bihar.gov.in and use the application status option.
2. Enter your application number or 13-digit registration number.
3. Read the stage shown; scrutiny, approved, permit issued, invoice uploaded, verified, or payment released.
4. Cross-check the DBT credit in your bank passbook, which is the final proof.
5. For a stalled case, take the application number to your Block Agriculture Office or the District Agriculture Officer.

Why applications get rejected, and how to avoid it

• Applying without completing DBT Agriculture registration, or with a registration whose bank or land details are incomplete.
• Buying before the permit is issued, the most expensive mistake in this scheme, and one that cannot be corrected afterwards.
• Buying from an unregistered dealer, whose invoice OFMAS will not accept.
• Invoice serial number not matching the machine presented at verification.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit fails at the last step.
• Permit allowed to expire before purchase.
• Repeat claim inside the cooling period for the same machine category.
• Land record not in the applicant's name for a machine that requires it.

Key dates and windows

Bihar does not keep OFMAS open all year. Windows are notified during the financial year, often for a few weeks at a time and sometimes machine-wise, and the portal displays आवेदन बंद है: applications are closed; outside them. At the time of checking, all four streams showed closed. Farmer registration on dbtagriculture.bihar.gov.in, by contrast, is open continuously, which is exactly why you should complete it now rather than when a window opens.

Where to get help

• Agriculture Department DBT helpline: 0612-2233555 or 1800-180-1551
• Email: agridbtcell1@gmail.com
• Block Agriculture Office, Kisan Salahkar and Block Coordinator, for registration help and form filling
• District Agriculture Officer, for approval delays, permit problems and verification disputes

No dealer may charge you extra for "arranging" a permit, and no official is authorised to take a share of your subsidy. The subsidy reaches your bank account and nowhere else.