Understand horticulture subsidies
before you invest

From 21 August 2026 National Horticulture Board assistance is 35% in general areas and 45% in the North Eastern and Himalayan States, Scheduled Areas and specified Union Territories. Cold storage subsidy is capped at ₹2.00 crore, land is no longer an eligible cost, and only one member of a family may ever claim. Fresh applications have been paused since 4 September 2026.

NHB takes cold storage projects above 5,000 MT and up to 20,000 MT. Rates fall as capacity rises, from ₹9,120 per MT in civil construction at the smallest band to ₹4,080 per MT at the largest. Assistance is 35% in general areas, credit-linked back-ended, and NCCD guidelines apply.

An open-field commercial horticulture project above 2 hectares is costed at ₹100.00 lakh per project with credit-linked back-ended subsidy at 35% in general areas. A large-scale hi-tech project above 20 hectares in six named crops is costed at ₹200.00 lakh per project at the same 35%.

An integrated mushroom unit above 50 MT and up to 300 MT installed capacity carries 35% credit-linked subsidy in general areas. Refrigerated vehicles of 15 MT and above are costed up to ₹80.00 lakh per project with 35% assistance.

Above 4,000 square metres, protected cultivation becomes an NHB project at 35% of eligible cost with subsidy capped at ₹100 lakh. NHB states its norms per acre: a polyhouse with drip and fogger at ₹40.00 lakh per acre, plus a crop-specific cultivation cost and an overall ceiling.

NHB backs larger, bank-financed commercial projects: open-field horticulture above 2 hectares, protected cultivation above 4,000 square metres, and cold storage from 5,001 to 20,000 MT. NHM handles the smaller end. The size of your project usually decides which one applies.

The scheme pays for mother-plant nurseries, imported technologies, demonstration machines, horti-fairs, study tours and seminars — at 100%, but only through government agencies, public-sector bodies or the Board itself. A grower reaches it in two places: an exposure visit outside the state, and a merit-based door for growers' associations, cooperatives and FPOs on the machinery component. The ₹100 lakh per hectare is not a subsidy you can apply for.

The National Horticulture Board has suspended the receipt of fresh Grant of Clearance applications under Scheme No. 1, Commercial Horticulture, and Scheme No. 2, Cold Storage. The suspension...

Annexure VI of the April 2025 guidelines is headed “National Horticulture Board: proposed changes in components and cost norms”. We record that wording on every NHB page rather than presenti...

A public circular of the National Horticulture Board dated 21 August 2026 revised the rate of assistance across its components to 35% in general areas and 45% in the North Eastern and Himala...

Annexure VI of the same guidelines covers National Horticulture Board components: commercial horticulture projects, protected cultivation above 4,000 square metres, cold storage from 5,001 t...

Annexure V of the guidelines sets out the cost norms and pattern of assistance for NHM. We have entered these as individual claims, each citing the page it comes from, and written explanatio...

The amendment circular of 21 August 2026, the application suspension circular of 3 September 2026 and the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare letter of 12 August 2025 on protecte...

The Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture operational guidelines dated April 2025, issued by the Horticulture Division of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, ar...