Kisan Credit Card (Pashupalan)

What is the Kisan Credit Card for Pashupalan?

Kisan Credit Card (Pashupalan) is the animal husbandry version of the Kisan Credit Card, extended in 2019 to cover the working capital needs of animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries. In Madhya Pradesh the scheme is driven on the ground by the Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, which uses its network of government veterinary hospitals and dispensaries to collect applications, and by banks under the Lead District Manager system, which sanction and disburse the limits. Livestock keepers commonly call it the pashupalan KCC.

Kisan Credit Card (Pashupalan) exists because livestock rearing has continuous running costs that arrive long before income does. A dairy farmer buys fodder every week; a goat rearer pays for vaccination and medicine; a poultry keeper buys feed each cycle. Before the extension of KCC, those costs were mostly met from moneylenders at very high rates. The KCC replaces that with a cheap, revolving bank limit.

Core terms

• Collateral-free up to Rs 2 lakh. Loans up to this limit are extended without security under the scheme.
• Effective interest of 4 per cent a year where the borrower repays on time. The base rate is reduced by interest subvention and by an additional 3 per cent prompt repayment incentive.
• Working capital only, drawn and repaid like an overdraft rather than taken as a lump sum.
• Valid for five years with annual review of the drawing limit.
• Can be added to an existing crop KCC as an additional sub-limit, so a farmer who already holds a KCC for cultivation does not need a second card.

Who is eligible for the Pashupalan KCC?

You can apply if:

• You are a livestock rearer in Madhya Pradesh. A dairy farmer, poultry keeper, goat or sheep rearer, pig farmer or rabbit rearer.
• You own or rear the animals you are declaring, with individual ear-tag numbers for each.
• You are an individual farmer, joint borrower, tenant farmer, sharecropper or a member of a self-help group or joint liability group engaged in animal husbandry.
• You have a bank account and can complete KYC.
• You have a clean repayment record with banks.

Landless rearers are specifically within scope. The limit under this product is computed from the animals held, not from land, which is what makes it useful for the households that need it most.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You are a defaulter to a bank or a cooperative society, or your loan has been written off.
• You have no animals to declare, since there is nothing to compute a limit against.
• Your animals are untagged and unrecorded, so the veterinary department cannot certify the holding.
• You want money for capital expenditure, buying animals, building a shed, a chaff cutter, a milking machine or a cold chain unit. Those need a term loan; the KCC is a working capital facility only.
• You are applying for an activity not covered under the animal husbandry and fisheries extension of KCC.

How is the loan limit calculated?

The limit is built up per animal, not as a flat figure. The lending bank takes the district-level scale of finance. The recognised one-year cost of maintaining one animal of that type in that district, covering feed, fodder, veterinary care and labour, and multiplies it by the number of animals you hold of each type.

A rearer with, say, four milch buffaloes will therefore receive a limit of four times the district scale of finance for a milch buffalo. A poultry keeper's limit is computed on bird numbers and cycle length. Because the scale of finance is set district by district by the District Level Technical Committee, the same number of animals can yield slightly different limits in different districts.

Anything up to Rs 2 lakh is given without collateral. Above that, banks apply their normal security norms, and the interest concession structure may differ, so ask the branch specifically what rate applies to the portion above Rs 2 lakh.

What documents are required?

How to apply for a Pashupalan Kisan Credit Card

1. Get your animals tagged and recorded. Visit your nearest government veterinary hospital or dispensary and have each animal ear-tagged, since the tag number is required on the application.
2. Collect the application form at the same veterinary hospital, or at a district KCC camp announced by the Animal Husbandry Department, or at your bank branch.
3. Fill the form and attach documents — Aadhaar, Samagra ID, bank passbook, animal list with tag numbers, animal photographs and two passport-size photographs.
4. Submit at the veterinary hospital or the bank. The Madhya Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department has asked livestock rearers to bring these documents to the nearest government veterinary clinic, from where the file goes on to the bank.
5. Wait for the veterinary certification. The veterinary officer confirms the number and type of animals, which the bank uses to compute the limit.
6. Complete bank formalities, KYC, the loan agreement and the drawing power letter: at the sanctioning branch.
7. Collect the card or the account details, and draw money as you need it rather than in one lump sum, since interest is charged on the outstanding balance only.

How to apply at a district KCC camp

1. Watch for the KCC camp announcement from the district Animal Husbandry office or the Lead District Manager. District-level KCC coordination committees hold these camps periodically.
2. Attend with the full document set listed above.
3. Get your form scrutinised, signed by the veterinary officer and handed to the participating bank at the camp itself, which shortens the process considerably.

How to check application status

1. Ask the veterinary hospital which bank and branch the file went to, and note the date of forwarding.
2. Visit the bank branch with your acknowledgement and ask for the loan application number and its current stage.
3. If the bank does not decide within the prescribed period, raise it with the Lead District Manager for the district, who convenes the KCC coordination committee.
4. Escalate on CM Helpline 181 or with the district Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry if the file stalls.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix it

• Untagged animals. No tag means no verified holding and no limit calculation. Get tagging done first.
• Existing default or a poor credit record, including a defaulted crop loan in the same household.
• Mismatch between declared and verified animal numbers at the veterinary inspection.
• Incomplete KYC, Aadhaar name spelt differently from the bank record.
• Applying for the wrong product. Asking for shed construction or animal purchase money under a KCC gets rejected. Ask for a term loan for those, and a KCC alongside it for running costs.
• Dormant or frozen bank account.

How to keep the 4 per cent rate

The concessional rate is a prompt repayment incentive, not an automatic entitlement. To retain it:

• Bring the account to credit at least once in the year, as your branch specifies.
• Do not allow the account to stay continuously overdrawn past the review date.
• Renew the limit at the annual review, submitting an updated list of animals.
• Repay before the due date each cycle. A missed cycle removes the 3 per cent incentive and pushes you to the full bank rate.

Where to get help

• Nearest government veterinary hospital or dispensary, the front desk for KCC in Madhya Pradesh.
• Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Madhya Pradesh, mpdah.gov.in, for scheme information and district office contacts.
• Animal husbandry helpline 1962, the mobile veterinary unit number used across states including Madhya Pradesh.
• Lead District Manager at the district headquarters for bank-side delay.
• CM Helpline 181 for a tracked grievance.

Applying for a Kisan Credit Card is free. Banks cannot charge processing or documentation fees on collateral-free KCC limits up to Rs 2 lakh under the scheme's terms, and no agent is authorised to charge you for arranging one.