Assistance to Farmers to Purchase Heavy Farm Equipment (Tractor)

What is the Gujarat tractor subsidy scheme?

Assistance to Farmers to Purchase Heavy Farm Equipment (Tractor) is a farm mechanisation scheme of the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat. The scheme pays a landholding farmer 25 per cent of the cost of a tractor, subject to a cap that depends on the tractor's PTO horsepower, and is administered entirely through the state's i-Khedut portal.

Gujarat's reasoning is about farm power availability. A tractor is the single most expensive machine most farming households will ever buy, and the price gap between renting a tractor season after season and owning one is what keeps small and medium holdings dependent on hired power. A one-time 25 per cent contribution does not make a tractor cheap, but it changes the arithmetic of the loan a farmer takes to buy one.

The scheme is deliberately tied to the 8-A land record rather than to a person. That single design choice explains almost every rule in the scheme, the once-per-record limit, the one-farmer-per-record limit and the 10-year cooling period all follow from it.

How much subsidy does the tractor scheme give?

Two things follow from the table. First, the cap bites well before the percentage does. A 45 HP tractor priced at Rs 8,00,000 would attract 25 per cent: Rs 2,00,000, but the farmer receives Rs 60,000 because that is the ceiling for the slab. Second, the published slabs stop at 60 PTO HP; a larger tractor is not covered by these rates.

The scheme also carries a minimum time limit of 10 years for reclaiming the benefit. In practice that means a land record that has drawn the tractor subsidy is locked out of the component for a decade.

Who is eligible for the tractor subsidy?

You can apply if:

• You are a landholding farmer, the scheme requires land, and the 8-A record is the proof.
• You belong to Gujarat and can produce a domicile certificate.
• You will purchase the tractor from an authorised dealer listed by the government.
• Your 8-A land record has not drawn this benefit in the last 10 years.

You are not eligible if:

• You are a landless farmer, tenant or agricultural labourer with no land record in your name. The 8-A requirement is absolute.
• Your 8-A record has already received the tractor benefit within the last 10 years.
• Another farmer named on the same 8-A record has taken the benefit. Where several farmers share a record, only one of them can be assisted for it.
• You are trying to claim on a second land record. A farmer with multiple holdings, or whose name appears in multiple records, can avail the benefit on a single land record only.
• You buy the tractor from an unauthorised dealer, or buy a second-hand tractor.
• You apply after the year's target is exhausted — eligibility does not guarantee sanction once the allocation is used up.

What documents are required?

The dealer quotation carries more weight than its position on the list suggests. It fixes the PTO horsepower, which decides whether your cap is Rs 45,000 or Rs 60,000, and it establishes the price against which the 25 per cent is calculated. A quotation that omits the PTO HP figure will be sent back.

How to apply for the tractor subsidy on i-Khedut

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in. Complete beneficiary registration if you have not already: i-Khedut requires every beneficiary to register, and Aadhaar verification is done through an OTP sent only to the mobile number linked to your Aadhaar.
2. On the home page click Schemes, then Agricultural Schemes (Khetiwadi).
3. Select this scheme from the list and click Apply. The application page opens.
4. Click Apply New and complete the form, your details, the 8-A land record particulars, bank details and the tractor model and PTO HP from the dealer quotation.
5. Use Update Application to correct anything before you finalise. After confirmation, edits are not possible.
6. Confirm the application.
7. Take a printout of the confirmed application and keep it with the supporting documents for submission and verification as directed.
8. Track the case through the Applicant Corner at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in/public/frm_Applicant_Corner.aspx, where you can also view, print and upload application details.

Applications are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis within the target limits set for the year, so applying on the opening days of a window matters.

How do I check my application status?

Use the Applicant Corner page on i-Khedut. Enter your application number together with the registered mobile number or Aadhaar number, and the portal shows the current stage; submitted, under scrutiny, pre-approved, purchase verified, sanctioned or rejected.

The stage most farmers misread is pre-approval. Gujarat's mechanisation schemes generally require the farmer to receive approval before buying, then purchase from the authorised dealer and submit the invoice for physical verification of the machine. Buying the tractor first, on the assumption that a complete application means a certain subsidy, is a real financial risk when the year's target is already full.

Why tractor subsidy applications get rejected

• Land record already used within the 10-year window, often by a co-sharer the applicant did not know had claimed.
• Multiple applications on multiple 8-A records by the same farmer, of which only one can survive.
• Purchase from an unlisted dealer, which cannot be regularised afterwards.
• PTO HP above 60, putting the model outside the published slabs.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, which blocks the DBT credit after sanction.
• Target exhausted for the year, in which case the farmer must reapply in the next window.
• Buying before approval, leaving the farmer with the machine and no subsidy.

When does the i-Khedut window open?

Gujarat notifies i-Khedut application windows scheme by scheme rather than keeping every component open all year, and the agricultural mechanisation components typically open for a defined period with a stated target. Watch the Agricultural Schemes page on i-Khedut and the notifications the department publishes there; district and taluka agriculture offices and Krishi Melas also announce the dates locally.

Where do I go for help or a grievance?

Take questions and stalled applications to the taluka agriculture office or the District Agriculture Officer where your application is being processed, with the printed confirmed application and the acknowledgement. The i-Khedut portal carries a Contact Us section and an application guide, and the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department publishes circulars there. The department has also opened a YouTube channel for agriculture information. Unresolved grievances can be escalated through the Gujarat government's SWAGAT platform.

There is no fee to apply on i-Khedut. No dealer, agent or middleman is authorised to charge for "arranging" a subsidy sanction, and no official will ask for your Aadhaar OTP.