Cabinet clears ₹2,000 crore NCDC grant, ₹11,000 crore rail infra upgrade

Mint

4 days ago

New Delhi: The government on Thursday approved a raft of decisions aimed at boosting rural lending, expanding food processing infrastructure, and strengthening India's railway network—all with an eye on improving farm incomes and economic connectivity.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Among the key measures was the approval of a ₹ 2,000 crore central sector scheme titled Grant-in-Aid to the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). The scheme will run for four years, from FY26 to FY29.
The enhanced capital infusion will allow the NCDC to raise roughly ₹ 20,000 crore from markets during this period. This in turn will enable the agency to scale up loans to around 2.9 crore members of 13,288 cooperative societies spanning sectors such as dairy, livestock, fisheries, sugar, textiles, food processing, storage, cold storage, labour, and women-led cooperatives.
In a separate move targeting the farm sector, the Union Cabinet also cleared a ₹ 6,520 crore outlay for the ongoing Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) during the 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021–22 to 2025–26). This includes an additional allocation of ₹ 1,920 crore.
Of this, ₹ 1,000 crore has been earmarked to support the creation of 50 multi-product food irradiation units under the Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure component of PMKSY.
Another ₹ 920 crore has been approved for projects under various other PMKSY component schemes, including the establishment of 100 NABL-accredited food testing labs under its Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure programme.
'The implementation of the proposed 50 multi-product food irradiation units is expected to create total preservation capacity ranging from 20 to 30 lakh metric tonnes per annum, based on the type of food products irradiated under these units," said Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a press briefing after the cabinet meeting.
The establishment of 100 NABL-accredited food testing laboratories in the private sector will help build advanced infrastructure for testing food samples, ensuring compliance with food safety standards and the supply of safe foods, Vaishnaw added.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also cleared four railway infrastructure projects with a combined outlay of approximately ₹ 11,169 crore. These are aimed at increasing capacity on critical and strategic rail corridors.
The approved projects include a fourth line between Itarsi and Nagpur; doubling of the Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar)–Parbhani line; and third and fourth lines on the Aluabari Road–New Jalpaiguri and Dangoaposi–Jaroli routes.
The Jalpaiguri line, which passes through the strategically sensitive 'chicken's neck' corridor, is considered crucial for faster movement of passengers, goods, and military personnel.
'The increased line capacity will significantly enhance mobility, resulting in improved operational efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. These multi-tracking proposals are poised to streamline operations and alleviate congestion,' Vaishnaw said.
The four projects will span 13 districts across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Jharkhand, adding about 574 kilometers to the rail network. According to the government, the expansion will improve connectivity for approximately 2,309 villages, representing a population of about 43.6 lakh.
These routes are vital for transporting key commodities including coal, cement, clinker, gypsum, fly ash, containers, agricultural goods, and petroleum products. The capacity enhancements are expected to support an additional 95.91 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of freight traffic.
Officials also underscored the environmental and economic impact of rail transport, noting that the projects could help India reduce logistics costs, cut oil imports by 160 million liters, and avoid 5.15 billion kilograms of CO₂ emissions—equivalent to planting 2 billion trees.