Department of Agricultural Marketing & Agri Business, Government of Tamil Nadu

Choosing the right scheme

• Agri-tech startups in crop, livestock or fisheries, registered with TANSIM and Startup India: the agri-tech startup grant.
• A new food or agri-allied enterprise: the new-enterprise capital subsidy.
• An existing agri business with at least two years of operations: the existing-entrepreneur capital subsidy.
• A new value-addition centre financed with a term loan, where the activity is completely new: the value-addition subsidy.

Before you apply

• Check the scheme periods. The TNIAMP page gives 2017-18 to 2022-23, and the Agri Entrepreneurship Scheme page gives 2021-22 to 2023-24. Neither page says whether it continues, and the guideline PDFs are still offered, so ask first.
• Check your legal form. The grant poster lists private companies and limited liability partnerships.
• Check your bank record. A commercial bank defaulter is not eligible for the entrepreneur subsidies, and self-help groups are excluded.

How applications work

• Grant: the application is Subsidy Application Form A, which asks for your TANSIM or Startup India registration number. For contact, use the District Deputy Director of Agriculture.
• Entrepreneur subsidies: to be selected, attend the one-day facilitation workshop, which is conducted at district level.
• Value-addition subsidy: the application is the form titled Application for Obtaining the Subsidy for Value Addition Centers. Send it to the Assistant Director of Agriculture, with the documents the form lists.

The Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business is a Government of Tamil Nadu department with its office in Guindy, Chennai. Its about page gives its main objective as regulating the marketing of agricultural produce. For founders, the relevant parts are an agri-tech startup grant and capital subsidies for agri-enterprises, handled through district agriculture offices.

How the schemes work

The department's startup-facing support falls into four schemes. Some of its pages give periods that have already passed, while the guideline documents for those schemes are still on the site, so check with the district office before you plan around one.

The agri-tech startup grant is issued under a government order dated 10 June 2025 from the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department. The scheme poster and application form state no grant amount. A district government listing gives tiered amounts for the grant, but it is not the department's own page, so no amount is given here.

Two capital subsidies run under the Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation Project, TNIAMP. The first covers new agri-enterprises in food and agri-allied sectors and pays 40% of the eligible project cost, up to a set ceiling. The second covers existing agri-entrepreneurs with at least two years of business operations and pays 50%, up to a set ceiling. A third subsidy covers a new value-addition centre, and it must be refunded if the term loan tied to that centre becomes non-performing. The scheme page gives the TNIAMP period as 2017-18 to 2022-23 and does not say whether it continues.

Who can apply

The grant is for startups in agriculture and allied fields such as crop, livestock and fisheries. They must be registered with TANSIM and Startup India, and they must not hold a loan from government or government-linked institutions. The poster lists private companies and limited liability partnerships. A district government listing reports that partnership firms are eligible as well, which the poster does not say, so check before you apply.

The entrepreneur subsidies are open to agri-entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu. Self-help groups are not eligible, and an applicant must not be a defaulter to any commercial bank. The value-addition subsidy is open to companies, partnerships, sole proprietors, farmer producer companies and co-operatives, provided the activity is completely new.

How selection works

New-enterprise applicants are chosen at a one-day district facilitation workshop, based on their interest, ability and potential. The scheme includes entrepreneurship training. Existing entrepreneurs are identified by the District Deputy Director of Agriculture, who helps prepare a business plan with the Zonal Agri Business Specialist of the Agri Business Promotion Facility. Larger projects, above a project-cost level set in the guidelines, go through a preliminary scrutiny by the Deputy Director.

Scale and infrastructure

The pages give a few state-level figures, all self-reported. They say 111 cold storage units were built across Tamil Nadu under three schemes, with a combined capacity of 13,565 metric tonnes, and that the state's total cold storage capacity is 17,527 metric tonnes. Of 282 regulated markets in the state, 23 are integrated under e-NAM. The Agmark lab page says thirty State Agmark Grading Laboratories and one Principal Laboratory are functioning in Tamil Nadu, and that during 2018-19, 23.58 lakh quintals of agricultural commodities were graded.

Who runs it

The department is part of the Government of Tamil Nadu. Its pages also describe the Tamil Nadu State Agricultural Marketing Board as a separate statutory body, reconstituted under the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act 1987. Scheme contacts are roles rather than names: the District Deputy Director of Agriculture (Agri Business) for the entrepreneur schemes, and the Assistant Director of Agriculture for the value-addition subsidy.

Locations

The office is at 116, Inner Ring Road, Guindy Industrial Estate, SIDCO Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai 600032. The contact page lists that address under the Agricultural Marketing Board heading, while the site footer names the department at the same Guindy location. Applicants reach the schemes through district agriculture offices across the state.