Kisan Credit Card (KCC)

What is the Kisan Credit Card?

Kisan Credit Card (KCC) is a credit product backed by the Government of India that gives farmers a single, revolving line of credit for cultivation and household needs, at a subsidised rate of interest. KCC is delivered by banks: commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks; while the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare funds the interest subsidy through the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS).

According to the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, MISS is a Central Sector Scheme whose purpose is to make short-term credit available to farmers at an affordable interest rate through the Kisan Credit Card. The economics are simple: the farmer is charged 7% per annum, the government pays lending institutions a 1.5% interest subvention, and a farmer who repays on schedule earns a 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive, taking the effective cost of credit down to 4% per annum.

Key objectives

• Meet the short-term credit needs of crop cultivation in one sanctioned limit, instead of a fresh loan every season.
• Cover post-harvest expenses, produce marketing costs and consumption needs of the farm household.
• Provide working capital for allied activities; dairy, poultry, fisheries and other animal husbandry.
• Pull farmers away from informal moneylenders charging far higher rates.

Main features

• Effective interest of 4% per annum on short-term crop loans with prompt repayment.
• Collateral-free up to Rs 2 lakh, raised from Rs 1.6 lakh by RBI's circular of 6 December 2024, effective 1 January 2025.
• Card validity of 5 years, with the limit reviewed each year.
• Issued as a RuPay-enabled card by most banks, usable at ATMs and points of sale.
• Extended to animal husbandry and fisheries, where interest subvention applies on loans up to Rs 2 lakh taken exclusively for those activities.
• Aadhaar submission to the bank is mandatory to receive interest subvention.

The Union Cabinet approved continuation of the interest subvention component of MISS for FY 2025-26 on 28 May 2025, retaining the existing 1.5% subvention. Separately, the Union Budget 2025-26 announced raising the loan limit covered under the scheme from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Ask your bank which limit it is currently applying before you plan around the higher figure.

On scale, the government reported that operative KCC credit crossed Rs 10.05 lakh crore as on 31 December 2024, covering 7.72 crore farmers.

Who is eligible for a Kisan Credit Card?

You can apply if you are:

• An owner-cultivator farming your own land, individually or jointly.
• A tenant farmer, oral lessee or sharecropper who can document the tenancy.
• A member of a Self Help Group or Joint Liability Group of farmers, including tenant farmers and sharecroppers.
• A farmer engaged in animal husbandry: dairy, poultry, goatery, piggery, sheep rearing: or in fisheries, including inland fisheries and aquaculture.
• A PM-KISAN beneficiary, who can use a simplified one-page application form.

You cannot apply: or will not get a card; if:

• You have no agricultural or allied activity of your own. A KCC is issued against cultivation or an allied enterprise, not against a rural address.
• You cannot produce land records or tenancy proof your bank accepts. This is the practical barrier for most oral lessees.
• Your existing agricultural loans are in default or your credit record disqualifies you at the bank's appraisal.
• You want the card purely for non-agricultural business or personal consumption unrelated to the farm household.

Note also that Aadhaar is not optional if you want the subsidy: a farmer who does not give Aadhaar details to the bank may still get a loan, but will not receive interest subvention on it.

How much can you borrow on a Kisan Credit Card?

Your KCC limit is not a flat number. Banks compute it from the Scale of Finance notified for your district and crop, multiplied by your cultivated area, plus allowances for post-harvest and household expenses, farm asset maintenance and crop insurance premium.

Where the subsidy applies:

• Short-term crop loans: interest subvention has applied on loans up to Rs 3 lakh per farmer; the Union Budget 2025-26 announced raising this covered limit to Rs 5 lakh.
• Animal husbandry and fisheries only: interest benefit applies up to Rs 2 lakh.
• Collateral-free ceiling: Rs 2 lakh, effective 1 January 2025.

Amounts above the subvention ceiling are still lendable, but the extra amount carries the bank's normal commercial rate with no subsidy.

What documents are required for a Kisan Credit Card?

How to apply for a Kisan Credit Card online

1. Go to jansamarth.in, the government's national loan portal, or to your own bank's website — State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and most other lenders host a KCC application page.
2. Select Kisan Credit Card from the list of schemes and click Apply Now.
3. Fill in personal details, land holding details, crop details and bank account details.
4. Upload the required documents: Aadhaar, land records and a passport-size photograph at minimum.
5. Submit the application and note the application reference number that is generated.
6. Respond to the branch when it contacts you for verification of land records and, if applicable, for signing security documents.
7. Collect your RuPay KCC card and PIN from the branch once the limit is sanctioned.

How to apply for a Kisan Credit Card offline

1. Visit the branch of the bank where you hold your account, a commercial bank, a regional rural bank or a cooperative bank.
2. Ask for the KCC application form. If you are a PM-KISAN beneficiary, ask specifically for the simplified one-page form.
3. Attach your Aadhaar, land records, identity and address proof and photographs, and submit the form at the counter.
4. The branch verifies your land record with the revenue authority and fixes your limit using the district Scale of Finance.
5. Sign the sanction and security documents, and collect the card.

How to keep the 4% effective interest rate

The 4% rate is not automatic. It is 7% minus a 3% Prompt Repayment Incentive that you earn only by repaying the crop loan within the due date fixed by the bank: typically within 12 months of drawal, or on the due date linked to your crop cycle, whichever is earlier.

Miss the due date and the incentive is lost for that drawal; the loan reverts to the bank's applicable rate, which is materially higher than 4%. Practical steps that protect the incentive:

• Note the due date at the time of drawal, not at harvest.
• Repay and immediately redraw if you still need working capital, this keeps the account operative and resets the cycle.
• Make sure your Aadhaar is on the bank record, since subvention is not released without it.

What else does a Kisan Credit Card cover?

• Post-harvest expenses, transport, storage and marketing of produce.
• Household consumption needs of the farm family, within a defined component of the limit.
• Maintenance of farm assets and expenses on allied activities.
• Working capital for animal husbandry and fisheries, with subvention on up to Rs 2 lakh.

The card is generally issued as a RuPay debit card, so the sanctioned limit can be drawn at ATMs and used at point-of-sale machines at input dealers, rather than requiring a branch visit for every drawal.

Common reasons a KCC application is rejected

• Land record not verifiable; mismatch between the revenue record and the applicant's name, or an unresolved partition.
• No accepted proof of tenancy for tenant farmers and oral lessees.
• Existing default on an agricultural loan at the same or another bank.
• Aadhaar not submitted, which does not always stop the loan but does stop the interest subvention.
• Requested limit exceeds the Scale of Finance for the area and crop declared.

Help and grievance redressal for KCC

• Your bank branch is the first point of contact for card issues, limit revision, and subvention not credited.
• Banking Ombudsman under the RBI's Integrated Ombudsman Scheme handles complaints the bank does not resolve in 30 days.
• PM-KISAN helpline 155261 for KCC applications routed through the PM-KISAN saturation drive.
• jansamarth.in carries application tracking for loans filed through that portal.

There is no fee to apply for a Kisan Credit Card beyond the bank's own notified processing and documentation charges, and several banks waive those for small limits. No agent can arrange a KCC sanction. The limit is fixed by the branch against your verified land record.