The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 14 kharif crops for the marketing season

2025-26. The highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year has been recommended for nigerseed (₹820 per quintal), followed by ragi (₹596 per quintal), cotton (₹589 per quintal),

and sesamum (₹579 per quintal).

As per the MSP for all Kharif crops for Marketing Season 2025-26, the MSP for paddy (common) has been increased by ₹69 to ₹2,369 per quintal, an 81% rise over the 2013-14 MSP. For jowar

"The total amount is estimated to be around ₹2,07,000 crores. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has focused that farmers must get at least 50% margin on their cost. So, we have taken care

that on all the crops the farmers get their base cost plus at least 50% margin on that cost," Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said during a press briefing today.

For pulses, tur/arhar MSP has been increased by ₹450 to ₹8,000 per quintal; moong MSP is at ₹8,768 per quintal, with an ₹86 increase over the previous year; and urad MSP has been hiked by

₹400 to ₹7,800 per quintal.

In oilseeds, the groundnut MSP has been set at ₹7,263 per quintal, a ₹480 increase over the previous year; the sunflower seed MSP has been increased by ₹441 to ₹7,721 per quintal; the

soybean (yellow) MSP has been set at ₹5,328 per quintal, up ₹436 year-over-year; the sesamum MSP at ₹9,846 per quintal has been increased by ₹579; and the nigerseed MSP at ₹9,537 per quintal

has been hiked by ₹820 over the previous year. Among commercial crops, the MSP for cotton (medium staple) has been increased by ₹589 to ₹7,710 per quintal, a 108% rise over 2013-14, while

the cotton (long staple) MSP has been set at ₹8,110 per quintal with a ₹589 increase over the previous year.

The Cabinet also approved the continuation of the interest subvention (IS) component under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) for the financial year 2025-26 and approved the

required fund arrangements. MISS is a Central Sector Scheme aimed at ensuring the availability of short-term credit to farmers at an affordable interest rate through the Kisan Credit Card

(KCC).

Under the scheme, farmers receive short-term loans of up to ₹3 lakh through Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) at a subsidised interest rate of 7%, with 1.5% interest subvention provided to eligible

lending institutions. Additionally, farmers repaying loans promptly are eligible for an incentive of up to 3% as the Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI), effectively reducing their interest

rate on KCC loans to 4%. For loans taken exclusively for animal husbandry or fisheries, the interest benefit is applicable up to ₹2 lakh.

No changes have been proposed in the structure or other components of the scheme.

There are more than 7.75 crore KCC accounts in the country, and the continuation of this support is critical to sustaining the flow of institutional credit to agriculture. Notably, the

institutional credit disbursement through KCC increased from ₹4.26 lakh crore in 2014 to ₹10.05 lakh crore by December 2024. The overall agricultural credit flow also rose from ₹7.3 lakh

crore in FY 2013-14 to ₹25.49 lakh crore in FY 2023-24.

The Cabinet also approved the construction of the 4-Lane Badvel-Nellore Corridor, with a length of 108.134 km at a cost of ₹3653.10 crore in the state of Andhra Pradesh on NH-67, on

Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) Mode. The approved Badvel-Nellore Corridor will provide connectivity to important nodes in the three Industrial Corridors of Andhra Pradesh:

Kopparthy Node on the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC), Orvakal Node on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (HBIC), and Krishnapatnam Node on the Chennai-Bengaluru

Industrial Corridor (CBIC). "This will have a positive impact on the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) of the country," a Cabinet statement said.

The Badvel-Nellore Corridor starts from Gopavaram Village on the existing National Highway NH-67 in the YSR Kadapa District and terminates at the Krishnapatnam Port Junction on NH-16

(Chennai-Kolkata) in SPSR Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh. It will also provide strategic connectivity to the Krishnapatnam Port, which has been identified as a priority node under the

Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC).

The proposed corridor will reduce the travel distance to Krishnapatnam Port by 33.9 km (from 142 km to 108.13 km) compared to the existing Badvel-Nellore road. The 108.134 km project will

generate about 20 lakh man-days of direct employment and 23 lakh man-days of indirect employment.