While the Kisan Rail has been a boon to farmers across the country, the railways have been left with a burden of around Rs 40 crore from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) for running these trains for a year at a 50% discount.

The Indian Railways provided a subsidy of around Rs 95 crore to farmers for ferrying their goods on Kisan Rail trains from October 14, 2020 to October 10, 2021. The MoFPI's "Operation Greens -TOP to Total" scheme provides a 50 percent freight subsidy on the transportation of fruits and vegetables via Kisan Rail trains.

According to official figures, the railways have run 1,455 Kisan Rail trains on 129 routes since October 2020, carrying 4.78 lakh tonne of consignment worth Rs 182.46 crore and providing a subsidy of Rs 94.92 crore. The national transporter, on the other hand, has only received around Rs 55 crore in reimbursement from the MoFPI so far.

According to official figures, the railways transported freight worth Rs 53.22 crore on Kisan Rail trains in 2020-2021 (from October 2020 to March 2021) and received a subsidy of Rs 27.79 crore. It moved freight worth Rs 129.25 crore on Kisan Rail trains this year (April to October 15, 2021) and gave farmers a total subsidy of Rs 67.13 crore.

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