UBI Approves 150 Agricultural Drone Loans For Garuda Kisan Drones

On Thursday, Garuda Aerospace, India's leading drone startup, announced a partnership with the Union Bank of India (UBI). Around 150 Garuda Agri Kisan drones have been approved for drone loans under the Kisan Pushpak Scheme as a result of the collaboration.

Drone loans will assist farmers in digitizing land record operations for crop production, as well as spraying fertilizers, chemicals, growth promoters, and pesticides with drones. The collaboration will be beneficial for lead generation, customer acquisition, application sourcing, and customer due diligence for credit deployment.

Garuda Kisan Drone will be the first to receive an Agri Drone loan from Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, in July 2022. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) has approximately INR 1 lakh crore in assets, of which 1000 crores have been designated for drones.

The AIF loans are collateral-free and can secure up to Rs.10 lakhs for the youth and farmers, with three months of EMI relaxation and a 5% interest rate. This advancement will enable youth to purchase drones and earn a living.

According to Agnishwar Jayaprakash, founder and CEO of Garuda Aerospace, "the partnership with Garuda Aerospace will help to provide farmer-centric products in the field of Agriculture because the Union Bank of India has a pan India presence and a wide network of branches." Garuda's goal for the next six months is to export 10,000 drones to 100 countries.

The Agri Infrastructure Fund scheme will finance 150 drone applications that will benefit the farmer community as well as train 150 skilled pilots to become entrepreneurs and increase farmer income. Garuda Aerospace has begun free training for 1 lakh youth and plans to sell 5,000 drones by March 31.

According to Raj Kumar, DGM, Madurai region, the collaboration is for the AIF scheme and capital subsidy under the Agriculture Mechanization Sub-mission (SMAM). The bank has launched the Union Kisan Pushpak Scheme to help farmers improve crop yield and income by financing Kisan drones.

On occasion, Rajesh Kumar, Senior Manager, Katchikatti Branch (Madhuri region), Union Bank of India, said, "The tie-up with the drone production company Garuda Aerospace, is the very first of its kind in the industry, this tie-up will profit both the businesses for the promotion of drones in use of agriculture industry and credit flow to Kisan Drones. The Government of India has confirmed several incentive schemes for drone loans in the Union Budget 2022, which farmers and entrepreneurs can take advantage of."

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