PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana (MoFPI) — 35–50% Grant for Food Processing Units, Cold Chains and Food Testing Labs

Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana — the Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters — is the Ministry of Food Processing Industries' umbrella programme for modern infrastructure from farm gate to retail. Its purpose is to cut post-harvest losses, give farmers better prices, link production to consumption and create employment through food processing and agro-entrepreneurship. It is not to be confused with the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, the irrigation scheme that shares the PMKSY acronym.

CEFPPC is the component for a single food processing unit: a new greenfield unit, or the expansion and modernisation of an existing one. It covers dairy, fruit and vegetable processing, meat and poultry, fish, ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook foods, snacks, bakery and confectionery, nutritional foods and preservation infrastructure that extends shelf life. Eligible cost is plant and machinery plus technical civil works; land and pre-operative expenses are excluded. Proprietorships, partnerships, LLPs, companies, cooperatives and FPOs can apply; a bank term loan is mandatory and the promoter must contribute at least 20% of the project cost.

• •Grant: 35% of eligible project cost in general areas; 50% in the North-Eastern and Himalayan states, ITDP areas and islands, and for SC/ST promoters — maximum ₹5 crore.
• •Instalments: the first when 50% of the term loan and promoter contribution has been spent on the project; the second when 100% of the project cost has been incurred.
• •Inspections: a project management agency inspects within 30 days for the first instalment; the second inspection is joint with the term-lending bank; release follows within a month of the inspection report.
• •Application: online on MoFPI's portal against the Expression of Interest, with the demand draft for the application fee sent in original.

The cold-chain component funds the infrastructure that keeps produce and processed food from spoiling between farm and market: farm-level pre-cooling and mobile cooling units, pack houses, sorting and grading lines, cold storages and controlled-atmosphere storages, individual quick freezing and processing lines, insulated and refrigerated transport, and collection centres and hubs in the distribution network. Eligible cost covers plant and machinery, technical civil works for the facilities, insulated transport, electrical installations and supporting infrastructure — not land or pre-operative expenses, and not labour quarters or general buildings.

The laboratory component funds new food testing laboratories in the private sector so that Indian food can be tested to international standards and exported with confidence; existing laboratories and government agencies are not eligible under the private-sector window. The grant is 50% of the cost of laboratory equipment, rising to 70% in difficult areas (North-Eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar and notified tribal areas) and for SC/ST and FPO applicants; technical civil works are supported up to a ceiling of about ₹15 lakh, the NABL accreditation fee is reimbursed in full and a laboratory information management system is mandatory and eligible. The maximum grant is ₹5 crore.

• •Promoter equity of at least 20% (10% for SC/ST applicants); the applicant's net worth must at least equal the grant claimed; a bank loan is mandatory.
• •Women applicants and SC/ST applicants receive bonus marks in the evaluation; SC/ST proposals qualify at a lower marking threshold.
• •Not funded: land and buildings for administration, office computers, second-hand or reconditioned equipment, operational expenses.
• •Process: online application with documents → Technical Committee evaluation → Project Approval Committee → sanction and release through the bank.
• •Fees: a one-time non-refundable application fee (concessional ₹15,000 for SC/ST applicants); a performance guarantee of 5% of the grant as a bank guarantee.

MoFPI grants sit alongside state schemes. In the channel's Q&A on a sorting-and-grading unit in Jaipur, Rajasthan's package for food processing units under RIPS 2024 is explained: a capital subsidy of 50% of the plant term loan up to ₹1.5 crore, paid as ₹15 lakh a year over ten years; a 6% interest subsidy, with a further 2% for MSME loans sanctioned after 8 December 2024; exemption from electricity duty; reimbursement of 75% of SGST paid in cash; exemption from mandi fee; and a 75% stamp-duty exemption at registration with the remaining 25% reimbursed once the unit is set up. Which scheme carries which cost is a structuring decision to take before the DPR is written.

• •Applying outside an Expression of Interest window — the portal accepts applications only when a round is open.
• •Land, pre-operative expenses or labour quarters included in eligible cost.
• •Promoter contribution below 20%, or a project without a bank term loan.
• •Second-hand machinery, or equipment purchased before approval where the guidelines forbid it.
• •Project not started or completed within the sanctioned timeline (24 months for cold chain).
• •Confusing the scheme with the irrigation PMKSY, or a sorting-grading unit with the PMFME micro-unit scheme, which has its own ₹10 lakh ceiling.