FICCI congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday for extending the benefits under PM-KISAN scheme to all the farming households in the country and for a new pension scheme for 5 crore farmers as one of the first decisions of his new administration.

With agriculture as top priority, FICCI has been advocating the extension of PM- KISAN to all farmers in its 100 days Agenda to Government.

The government had announced Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Siddhi (PMKSS) in the interim Budget to provide Rs 6,000 per year to about 12.5 crore small farmers holding land up to 2 hectares. The revised scheme will now cover 2 crore more farmers increasing the coverage to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries.

FICCI believes that Indian agriculture is yet to realise its full potential and welcomes the government's resolve to address challenges in the sector in a comprehensive manner.

Direct income transfer is recognised as one of the most effective ways of targeting support to the farm sector. FICCI supports a gradual shift from loosely targeted input subsidies to direct benefits transfer to enable farmers to make choices in expenditure based on local priorities and exigencies.

Sandip Somany, President, FICCI said, "We urge the Prime Minister to follow up this excellent decision with further reform measures in a time bound manner to kick start a virtuous cycle of growth and value addition in the agriculture sector."