Before you spend money: cost norms, rates and conditions can be changed by the Government. This page explains the April 2025 MIDH operational guidelines as written. Confirm the current position with your State Horticulture Department before committing to a project.
“What is the polyhouse subsidy?” has no single answer, because the guidelines do not treat a polyhouse as one thing. The type of structure, and its size, both change the figure.
Fan and pad polyhouse
A fan and pad system draws air across a wet pad with exhaust fans, giving closer climate control. It carries the highest cost norms, on a sliding scale.
| Area | Cost norm |
|---|---|
| Up to 500 m² | ₹1,800 per m² |
| Above 500 and up to 1,008 m² | ₹1,600 per m² |
| Above 1,008 and up to 2,080 m² | ₹1,500 per m² |
| Above 2,080 and up to 4,000 m² | ₹1,450 per m² |
Assistance is 50% of the cost norm, for a maximum area of 4,000 square metres per beneficiary.
Naturally ventilated polyhouse
A naturally ventilated structure relies on roof and side vents rather than powered cooling. For tubular or rectangular construction:
| Area | Cost norm |
|---|---|
| Up to 500 m² | ₹1,200 per m² |
| Above 500 and up to 1,008 m² | ₹1,050 per m² |
| Above 1,008 and up to 2,080 m² | ₹1,000 per m² |
| Above 2,080 and up to 4,000 m² | ₹950 per m² |
Assistance is again 50%, with the same 4,000 square metre ceiling.
Bamboo and cable purlin structures
A lower-cost bamboo or cable-purlin structure carries a cost norm of ₹450 per square metre with assistance at 50%. The guidelines restrict bamboo structures to a stated number of units per beneficiary, each of a stated maximum size, so a single large bamboo house is not the way this component is meant to be used.
The ceiling is the number that plans your project
4,000 square metres is roughly one acre. Beyond it, the structure can be as large as you like, but the assistance stops. When people say “subsidy on one acre of polyhouse”, this ceiling is where the phrase comes from.
Two conditions that catch people out
- Materials must meet standards. The guidelines require materials and technologies used for subsidised protected cultivation to conform to BIS standards.
- The structure is not the whole project. The crop grown inside it, and add-ons such as fans and fertigation automation, are separate components with their own norms. That is covered in the companion explanations.
What none of this tells you is what you will actually pay. A cost norm is a ceiling for the calculation, and the market price of a polyhouse sits well above it — far enough that the headline 50% returns about 35% on a naturally ventilated house and about 16% on fan and pad. That comparison, worked at the 4,000 square metre limit, is here.
