NHB · All of India
Is the NHB subsidy 50% of my project cost?
No. From 21 August 2026 the rate of financial assistance under National Horticulture Board schemes is 35% in general areas, and 45% in the North Eastern and Himalayan States, Scheduled Areas and the specified Union Territories. A quote of 50% is the old figure.
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- published with the asker’s permission
What was asked
The question as it was put to us, anonymised. The original wording, the email and the tracking token are never shown.
A supplier quoted "50% NHB subsidy" for a polyhouse and a cold store. Is 50% the right figure, and can a fresh application be made now?
Applicable context
50% is what Annexure VI of the MIDH guidelines carried, and it is what most suppliers and most pages on the internet still quote. The Board's public circular of 21 August 2026 replaced it. The Annexure VI rate claims are marked superseded in our sources box rather than deleted, so you can see exactly which figure changed and when. The same circular capped the cold storage subsidy at ₹2.00 crore, removed the cost of land from eligible project cost, redefined "family" and limited it to one claim ever, and revised the form fees.
Conditions and exceptions
The 45% rate is not a union territory rate. The circular names the specified Union Territories, and the claim taken from it lists them: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Puducherry, for example, is a union territory and is not one of them. Ceilings and the component-specific conditions are unchanged — the rate moved, not the cost norms. Your own figure still depends on the component, the cost norm for it and the ceiling that applies.
What remains unresolved
Whether you can apply today. The receipt of fresh Grant of Clearance applications under Scheme No. 1 and Scheme No. 2 was suspended for one month with effect from 4 September 2026, and the online facility for fresh applications was unavailable during it. We have not confirmed that it has reopened. Cases already submitted before the suspension continue to be dealt with. We have also not yet read the Board's own final operational guideline of January 2025 against Annexure VI. It is registered in our library and has not been fetched, so where the two disagree we cannot yet say which governs.
Next step
Confirm the current rate and whether fresh applications have reopened with the National Horticulture Board or the implementing department in your state before you commit money or sign with a supplier. Do not accept a subsidy percentage from a quotation.
Sources
National Horticulture Board, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India · Amendment · 21 Aug 2026 · Current
Official original
National Horticulture Board, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India · Circular · 03 Sep 2026 · Review due
Official original
Statements checked on this page (4)
- Source verified by our team From 21 August 2026 the rate of financial assistance under National Horticulture Board schemes is 35% in general areas and 45% in the North Eastern and Himalayan States, Scheduled Areas and specified Union Territories. The same pair of rates is listed for open field cultivation projects, protected cultivation projects including plug-type nurseries under protected conditions, new tissue culture units in the private sector, integrated mushroom units, post-harvest management components including secondary primary processing, and cold storage projects. — Page 2, paragraph 3, rate table
- Source verified by our team The higher 45% rate applies as provided in the respective scheme guidelines, including the North Eastern and Himalayan States, Scheduled Areas, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the Lakshadweep Islands, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. — Page 2, footnote to the rate table
- Source verified by our team The receipt of fresh applications for Grant of Clearance under National Horticulture Board Scheme No. 1 and Scheme No. 2 is temporarily suspended for a period of one month with effect from 4 September 2026, to allow orderly implementation of the revised guidelines including verification of pending cases and updating of the online application system. During that period the online facility for submitting fresh Grant of Clearance applications remains unavailable. — Page 1, paragraphs 2 and 3
- Source verified by our team The temporary suspension applies only to the submission of fresh Grant of Clearance applications. Cases already submitted to the National Horticulture Board before the suspension began continue to be dealt with in accordance with the applicable provisions of the revised scheme guidelines and other instructions issued by the Board from time to time. — Page 1, paragraph 4
Version history (2)
| Date | Change | Reason | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Sep 2026 | Updated | — | Awaiting verification |
| 21 Sep 2026 | Created | — | Awaiting verification |
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