Changed on 21 August 2026. The National Horticulture Board revised its rate of assistance to 35% in general areas and 45% in the North Eastern and Himalayan States, Scheduled Areas and specified Union Territories. Cold storage subsidy is now capped at ₹2.00 crore per project, the cost of land no longer counts as eligible project cost, and only one member of a family may ever claim. Fresh applications have also been paused since 4 September 2026. What changed, in full.
Read this first: the NHB figures on this page come from Annexure VI of the MIDH Operational Guidelines, April 2025, which is headed “National Horticulture Board: proposed changes in components and cost norms”. They are recorded here as written. Confirm the operative position with the National Horticulture Board before spending money.
Cold storage is where the split between the two schemes is sharpest, and where most confusion happens.
The capacity line
NHM promotes cold storage up to 5,000 MT. NHB takes projects with capacity above 5,000 MT and up to 20,000 MT. Same country, same document, different annexure, entirely different numbers.
Type-I in civil construction
| Capacity | Rate |
|---|---|
| 5,001 to 6,500 MT | ₹9,120 per MT |
| 6,501 to 8,000 MT | ₹8,640 per MT |
| 8,001 to 10,000 MT | ₹8,160 per MT |
| 10,001 to 20,000 MT | ₹4,080 per MT |
Note how sharply the rate drops in the largest band. A 12,000 MT store is not costed at twice the rate of a 6,000 MT one.
Type-I in civil plus pre-engineered building
| Capacity | Rate |
|---|---|
| 5,001 to 6,500 MT | ₹11,400 per MT |
| 6,501 to 8,000 MT | ₹10,800 per MT |
| 8,001 to 10,000 MT | ₹10,200 per MT |
| 10,001 to 20,000 MT | ₹5,100 per MT |
The onion variant of Type-I is costed at exactly these rates, and at the civil rates above in civil construction. Nothing in the capacity bands distinguishes it. What differs is the equipment package below, which is about ten times larger.
Assistance and conditions
Assistance is credit-linked back-ended at 35% in general areas, and since 21 August 2026 total subsidy on any cold storage project is capped at ₹2.00 crore. The component has to be implemented in accordance with NCCD guidelines only, which governs the technical specification, not just the paperwork.
Systems and modernisation
- Carbon dioxide scrubber, unified control system, conveying or hoist system, doors and automated computerised systems — the ceiling is per type of store, not one figure: up to ₹52.00 lakh per project for Type-I, up to ₹531.00 lakh for Type-I-Onion (whose package also covers a ventilation system, specialised stacking, and hand and battery-operated pallet trucks), and up to ₹198.00 lakh for Type-II.
- Controlled atmosphere components for a Type-II CA store: up to ₹995.00 lakh per project, with the maximum subsidy for a CA store capped in the annexure at ₹900 lakh including add-ons. The ₹2.00 crore ceiling introduced on 21 August 2026 is lower than that, so it is the one that binds.
- Material hoist, pallet trucks, dock leveller and doors for dry spices and raisins units: up to ₹33.00 lakh per project.
- Refrigeration modernisation with unified control system: maximum ₹125.00 lakh, of which ₹5 lakh is for the control system, and not more than ₹3,000 per MT of capacity, assisted at 35% of the actual cost or the ceiling, whichever is lower since 21 August 2026. Scheme No. 02 is titled “Construction/ Expansion/ Modernization of Cold Storages”, so modernisation sits inside the Cold Storage Scheme that the circular revised, and the ₹2.00 crore ceiling on any cold storage project applies. The circular does not say so in terms, so confirm it with the Board before you budget on it.
Modernisation used to carry a higher percentage than building a new store. On our reading it no longer does: Scheme No. 02 covers construction, expansion and modernisation together, and the August 2026 circular revised the scheme without carving modernisation out, so the same 35% applies to both. The circular does not say this in terms, which is why it is recorded here as our reading rather than the Board’s words.
