Spice Money enables farmers to withdraw PM-KISAN subsidy at smart banking points

By Leandra Monteiro

The Government of India has released the 12th instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan) financial benefit to eligible farmer families via Direct Benefit Transfer ahead of Diwali. Spice Money, an Indian rural FinTech is assisting farmers and their families to withdraw their subsidy with the help of their network of 10,00,000 Adhikaris (merchants/ nanoprenuers).

Earlier this year Spice Money undertook an initiative to paint the banking outlets Red and Blue colour making it even easier for farmers and their families to identify the outlets to withdraw the subsidy amount.

The PM Kisan Scheme, a central sector scheme with 100% funding from the Government of India, became operational on December 1, 2018. Under this scheme, income support of ₹ 6000 per year, divided into three instalments, is directly transferred to the bank accounts of landholding farmer families, consisting of the husband, wife, and minor children. While the government is transferring the subsidy directly to bank accounts, the lack of traditional bank branches has been a major barrier for farmers to access the funds. Rural FinTechs through their rural banking outlets are addressing this challenge and enabling farmers and their families to get access to the PM KISAN subsidy.

Speaking on this, Sanjeev Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, Spice Money said, “At Spice Money, we are committed to empowering the underserved rural population by providing access to banking & financial services across the hinterlands of India. With the disbursement of the 12th instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi ahead of Diwali, farmers and farmer families are accessing the subsidy at their nearest Spice Money banking outlet through AePS with the help of our vast network of 1 million Adhikaris.”