Scheme for Granting Assistance to Processing Units in APMC (General Area)

What is the Scheme for Granting Assistance to Processing Units in APMC?

The Scheme for Granting Assistance to Processing Units in APMC (General Area) is a capital assistance scheme administered through the Registrar of Co-operative Societies under Gujarat's Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department. The scheme funds part of the cost of setting up an agro-processing unit inside the general area of an Agricultural Produce Market Committee. The regulated market yards, locally called APMCs, where Gujarat's farm produce is first sold.

According to the myScheme record maintained for the department, assistance is given at 25 percent of project cost for A and B class market committees and 50 percent for C and D class committees, subject to a ceiling of Rs 1,50,00,000 per project.

The purpose is value addition at the point of first sale. Produce that leaves a market yard ungraded and unpacked is sold as a commodity and priced as one. Produce that has been cleaned, graded, sorted and packed at the yard fetches a better price, and the margin stays closer to the farmer. Building that capacity requires a processing shed, machinery and power connection, which is beyond the means of the smaller market committees, which is precisely why the scheme scales its grant rate by the class of the committee.

Key features

• State capital grant, administered by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Gandhinagar.
• Two grant rates, 25 percent for A and B class APMCs, 50 percent for C and D class APMCs.
• Overall ceiling of Rs 1,50,00,000 per eligible project.
• Restricted to the general (non-tribal) areas of Gujarat.
• Offline application only, through the District Registrar.

How the two grant rates work

Gujarat classifies its Agricultural Produce Market Committees into classes A, B, C and D, broadly by turnover and income. The scheme uses that classification directly:

The ceiling of Rs 1,50,00,000 applies to both rates. A C class committee with a project costed at Rs 2 crore therefore receives Rs 1 crore, while a project costed at Rs 4 crore receives Rs 1.5 crore and not Rs 2 crore, because the ceiling bites first.

Which activities qualify?

The scheme supports the capital cost of processing infrastructure for agricultural produce, including:

• Grading and sorting lines that separate produce by size and quality.
• Cleaning equipment for removing dust, chaff and foreign matter.
• Packaging capacity so produce leaves the yard in market-ready units.
• Value addition operations carried out on the produce at the market yard.

Working capital, raw material purchase and staff salaries are not covered. This is a capital grant against created assets.

Who is eligible, and who cannot apply?

An applicant is eligible if:

• It is a co-operative institution, including an Agricultural Produce Market Committee acting in that capacity, operating in Gujarat.
• The processing unit is proposed within the general area of an APMC — that is, outside the state's scheduled tribal areas.
• The applicant satisfies the conditions in the scheme guidelines issued by the co-operation department, including the classification of the market committee concerned.
• The applicant can fund the balance of the project cost, being 75 percent for A and B class committees and 50 percent for C and D class committees.

Who cannot apply:

• Individuals cannot apply. There is no personal benefit under this scheme, and a farmer, trader or commission agent applying in a personal capacity is not eligible.
• Proprietary firms, partnerships and private limited companies are not eligible, since the scheme is confined to co-operative institutions.
• Projects located in scheduled tribal areas are not eligible against this general-area provision and must be routed through the corresponding tribal sub-plan scheme.
• Non-processing projects, a plain godown or an office building with no processing function; do not qualify under this particular line.

This is worth stating plainly because search traffic for "APMC subsidy" is mostly from individuals. If you are a trader or a farmer looking for a personal subsidy on a grading machine, this scheme is not the route; the correct approach is either through a co-operative you belong to, or through central and state agri-infrastructure schemes that do accept individual and firm applications.

What documents are needed?

The District Registrar's office issues the checklist that applies in the current financial year. Collect it before assembling the file, because most proposals that stall do so at district scrutiny for want of a document, not because the project was rejected on merit.

How to apply for assistance to a processing unit in an APMC

1. Pass a resolution of the managing committee approving the processing unit and authorising an office-bearer to submit the proposal.
2. Prepare a detailed project report giving item-wise capital cost for civil work, plant, machinery, electrification and installation, and state clearly which class the market committee falls in.
3. Assemble the supporting documents: registration certificate, class proof, land and site papers, and the committee resolution.
4. Submit the proposal on plain paper with all supporting documents to the District Registrar of Co-operative Societies. There is no online form for this scheme.
5. Answer any scrutiny queries from the District Registrar's office promptly, so the file can be forwarded to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies at Gandhinagar.
6. Wait for the sanction order, which will state the approved project cost, the applicable rate and the assistance amount, before starting expenditure on the sanctioned items.
7. Complete the project and submit expenditure and completion records for verification, since the grant is released against verified capital spending.

How is the assistance released?

Assistance is released against the approved project cost after verification. If the institution spends less than the approved cost, the grant is recalculated at the applicable percentage of actual eligible expenditure. The Rs 1,50,00,000 ceiling applies regardless of project size, and payments are made to the institution's account.

How to track a proposal

Follow the file with the District Registrar of Co-operative Societies that received it, quoting the institution's registration number and the submission date. After forwarding, the proposal is with the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Gujarat State, Gandhinagar. Government resolutions, circulars and the directory of district registrar offices are published on rcs.gujarat.gov.in, which is also where revised scheme instructions appear.

Why proposals get rejected

• Applicant is not a co-operative institution.
• No item-wise project costing, so the eligible cost cannot be determined.
• Wrong class claimed for the market committee, which changes the rate from 25 to 50 percent and is checked at scrutiny.
• Site outside the general area, making the proposal a tribal sub-plan matter.
• Expenditure started before sanction, which the department may decline to cover.
• No demonstrated source for the institution's own share of the cost.

Where to raise a grievance

Raise it first with the District Registrar of Co-operative Societies, then with the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Gujarat State, Gandhinagar. The administrative department above both is the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat. Office contacts are listed on rcs.gujarat.gov.in.

No fee is payable to any individual for processing a proposal under this scheme.