What is Krishi UDAN 2.0 and who runs it?

Krishi UDAN 2.0 is a Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) scheme launched on 27 October 2021 to facilitate and incentivise the movement of agricultural produce — especially perishables from North Eastern, hilly and tribal regions — by air. It builds on the Krishi UDAN scheme first announced by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2020–21 and rolled out in August 2020. MoCA implements the scheme through the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and in convergence with five other Ministries: Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Fisheries/Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Commerce (through APEDA) and Tribal Affairs.

What is the benefit for airlines and farmers under Krishi UDAN 2.0?

Under Krishi UDAN 2.0, AAI provides full waiver on landing charges, parking charges, Terminal Navigation Landing Charges (TNLC) and Route Navigation and Facilitation Charges (RNFC) for Indian-registered freighter aircraft and P2C (passenger-to-cargo) converted aircraft operating out of AAI airports notified under the scheme, when the flight carries qualifying agri produce. For non-freighter belly-cargo movements on scheduled passenger flights, partial waivers apply. The waivers reduce the cost of air cargo per kilogramme, which flows through to better farm-gate prices for perishable produce like flowers, fruits, fish, meat and dairy from NER and hilly districts.

Which airports are covered by Krishi UDAN 2.0?

Krishi UDAN 2.0 initially identified 53 airports for the scheme, with priority on the North East, hilly and tribal regions. These include Agartala, Aizawl (Lengpui), Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Guwahati, Imphal, Jorhat, Lilabari, Pakyong, Shillong (Umroi), Silchar and Tezpur in the NER; Bagdogra, Leh, Srinagar, Jammu, Shimla, Kullu (Bhuntar), Dharamshala (Gaggal), Dehradun (Jolly Grant) and Pithoragarh in the hilly belt; and Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi, Vishakhapatnam, Rajahmundry and several others feeding tribal-district catchments. The current airport list is maintained on the MoCA website (civilaviation.gov.in) and the e-KUSHAL portal.

What produce is eligible under Krishi UDAN 2.0?

The scheme is designed around perishable and value-added agri produce with a short shelf life or a distant premium market. Priority categories include horticulture (flowers, fruits, vegetables), fisheries (fresh and chilled fish, shrimp), dairy, meat and poultry, and value-added / processed agri products. Non-perishable but high-value produce such as spices, honey and nuts is also supported when moved from NER, hilly or tribal-region airports. The precise commodity list, and any seasonal additions notified under Operation Greens' TOP-to-Total or NER-specific interventions, is published on the e-KUSHAL portal.

What is e-KUSHAL and why does it matter?

e-KUSHAL — Krishi UDAAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics — is the IT platform that operationalises Krishi UDAN 2.0. It provides a single window for farmers, FPOs, exporters, freight forwarders, airlines and airport operators to publish available cargo, book capacity, track shipments and access scheme incentives. It also integrates with the National Agri Trade Platform through APIs, allowing linkages with e-NAM mandi trade data, FPO databases and the Kisan Rail freight system so that the mode choice — road, rail or air — can be made based on price, distance and shelf life. The portal is hosted by MoCA / AAI Cargo Logistics & Allied Services Company Ltd (AAICLAS).

How does Krishi UDAN 2.0 converge with other Government schemes?

Krishi UDAN 2.0 sits at the intersection of six central Ministries. On the produce side it complements Operation Greens (MoFPI) — which provides 50% freight subsidy for air transport of eligible TOP + Total commodities from surplus to deficit regions — and the Ministry of Fisheries' Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for chilled fish evacuation. On the market side it links to APEDA export promotion for horticulture and dairy from NER, and to MoA&FW's 10,000 FPOs programme and PM-KISAN registered farmer database for aggregation and beneficiary identification. On the logistics side, it dovetails with the Ministry of Railways' Kisan Rail service where rail is faster than road but slower than air.

Who can benefit — is this only for large exporters?

Krishi UDAN 2.0 is designed to benefit the full value chain: individual farmers and FPOs at the origin, aggregators and freight forwarders at first-mile, airlines and airport operators at the movement stage, and processors, wholesalers and exporters at the destination. Small growers benefit indirectly because the airport-charge waiver improves the economics for airlines to run dedicated freighter services out of otherwise low-volume NER and hilly airports, and directly through Operation Greens' 50% freight subsidy when the shipment qualifies. FPOs registered under the 10,000 FPOs programme can list capacity on e-KUSHAL and pool shipments with other FPOs on the same route.

How has Krishi UDAN 2.0 performed so far?

According to PIB releases and MoCA annual reports, in the first two years of Krishi UDAN 2.0 operations several thousand tonnes of perishable produce were moved by air from NER airports — notably Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal, Aizawl and Dibrugarh — to metros and international gateways such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai. Products moved include king chilli and pineapple from Nagaland/Manipur, orange from Tripura, kiwi from Arunachal Pradesh, dry fish from Assam, and organic ginger and turmeric from Meghalaya and Mizoram. The scheme is periodically evaluated by MoCA and the airport list, waiver structure and commodity coverage are revised on that basis.

Krishi UDAN 2.0 — MoCA's Air-Cargo Scheme for Perishable Agri Produce from NER, Hilly and Tribal Regions

Krishi UDAN 2.0 is the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) scheme launched on 27 October 2021 to facilitate and incentivise the movement of perishable agricultural produce by air from the North-East, hilly and tribal regions to India's large consumption centres and international gateways. It builds on the original Krishi UDAN scheme announced in the Union Budget 2020–21 speech and operationalised in August 2020, and is run in convergence with five other Ministries — Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Food Processing Industries, Fisheries / Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Commerce (through APEDA) and Tribal Affairs. For a broader map of farmer-welfare schemes, see our India government schemes for farmers reference.

Why Krishi UDAN 2.0 exists

India's post-harvest logistics for perishable produce — horticulture, floriculture, fisheries, dairy, meat — is dominated by road, with limited rail and even more limited air participation. The North-Eastern Region (NER), along with hilly and tribal districts of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, has the added disadvantage of long road distances, seasonal blockages and low truck return-load density. Perishable produce loses value on those long road journeys — sometimes 30–40% of realisable price is stripped out by the time it reaches the wholesale market.

MoCA's policy insight in Krishi UDAN 2.0 is that a targeted waiver of airport charges and a modest cargo-route subsidy is often enough to tip a marginal air-cargo route into viability, particularly if it is bundled with Operation Greens' 50% freight subsidy for eligible commodities. The scheme therefore does not directly pay a farmer — it lowers the cost of the plane movement and lets that saving flow through to freight rates and farm-gate prices. Governance sits with MoCA; execution rides on the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and its cargo arm AAICLAS.

Key features at a glance

Ministry: Ministry of Civil Aviation (civilaviation.gov.in), implemented by AAI and AAICLAS.
Launch of Krishi UDAN 2.0: 27 October 2021. Original Krishi UDAN was announced in Union Budget 2020–21 and rolled out in August 2020.
Focus: perishable agri, horticulture, fisheries, dairy, meat, poultry and value-added agri produce; priority geography is NER + hilly + tribal regions.
Incentive: full waiver of landing, parking, TNLC and RNFC charges at AAI airports for Indian-registered freighter and P2C aircraft carrying qualifying agri produce; partial waivers for belly-cargo movements on passenger flights.
Airports: 53 airports notified in the initial phase, with priority for NER and hilly airports such as Agartala, Aizawl, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Guwahati, Imphal, Leh, Pakyong, Shillong and Srinagar.
Platform: e-KUSHAL — Krishi UDAAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics — the single-window IT portal for cargo listing, booking, tracking and incentive settlement.
Convergence:Operation Greens (MoFPI) 50% freight subsidy for TOP + Total commodities; PMMSY for chilled fish; APEDA export support; MoA&FW's 10,000 FPO programme and PM-KISAN beneficiary database; Ministry of Tribal Affairs' TRIFED for tribal produce.

What is waived, and for whom

At an AAI-operated airport notified under Krishi UDAN 2.0, when an Indian carrier operates a scheduled or ad-hoc cargo movement of eligible agri produce, the following charges are waived:

Landing charges — full waiver for full-freighter and P2C aircraft; partial for belly cargo.
Parking charges — full waiver during the notified turnaround.
Terminal Navigation Landing Charges (TNLC) — waived, reducing the per-tonne movement cost.
Route Navigation and Facilitation Charges (RNFC) — waived on the eligible sector, cutting the en-route cost.

The waivers apply on domestic and international cargo movement out of, or into, the notified airports for the qualifying commodity categories. The intent is symmetric — inbound loads bringing empty containers to NER, and outbound loads carrying perishables to metros and airports feeding export gateways such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. Non-AAI airports (private, JV, defence enclaves) are not automatically covered; MoCA notifies specific inclusions.

The 53-airport list — a snapshot

The airport list is periodically updated by MoCA; the categories below capture the initial phase-1 focus:

North Eastern Region: Agartala, Aizawl (Lengpui), Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Guwahati (LGBI), Imphal, Jorhat, Lilabari, Pakyong (Sikkim), Shillong (Umroi), Silchar, Tezpur.
Hilly & border states: Bagdogra, Dehradun (Jolly Grant), Dharamshala (Gaggal), Jammu, Kullu (Bhuntar), Leh, Pantnagar, Pithoragarh, Shimla, Srinagar.
Tribal-belt / feeder airports: Bhubaneswar, Jharsuguda, Raipur, Ranchi, Rajahmundry, Vishakhapatnam.
Metro / gateway destinations for perishables: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru (Kempegowda), Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Amritsar and Ahmedabad.

The current authoritative list is maintained on the MoCA website (civilaviation.gov.in) and on the e-KUSHAL portal.

Eligible produce categories

Krishi UDAN 2.0 covers perishable and high-value produce where air movement gives a genuine value uplift over surface transport. The headline categories are:

Horticulture: fresh fruits (kiwi, orange, pineapple, litchi, mango, apple), vegetables and floriculture (cut-flowers, orchids from NER).
Fisheries: fresh and chilled fish, shrimp, prawn — with cold-chain integration at origin and destination.
Dairy & poultry: chilled milk products and processed meat for metro / export gateways.
Value-added agri: spices, honey, nuts (including processed cashew, walnut), and NER organic products such as king chilli, black rice and turmeric.

Where a commodity is also covered by Operation Greens' Top-to-Total expansion (tomato, onion, potato + 22 further notified fruits and vegetables), the 50% freight subsidy stacks with the AAI charge waiver.

e-KUSHAL: the single-window platform

e-KUSHAL(Krishi UDAAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics) is the technology backbone of Krishi UDAN 2.0. It is designed as a one-stop portal that connects the produce side (farmers, FPOs, aggregators, cold storages) with the movement side (airlines, airport operators, freight forwarders) and the government side (MoCA, AAI, MoA&FW, MoFPI, APEDA). Key modules include:

Cargo listing — origin airport, commodity, quantity, target price, required temperature band.
Capacity discovery — available belly and freighter capacity across notified airports and airlines.
Booking & documentation — airway bill, phytosanitary and veterinary clearances where applicable.
Tracking — end-to-end status from farm-gate to destination airport.
Incentive settlement — automatic reconciliation of Krishi UDAN 2.0 waivers and Operation Greens freight subsidy against operator invoices.

e-KUSHAL is integrated with e-NAM mandi price data, FPO databases and the Kisan Rail freight system, so that a shipper can compare the effective price realisation of road, rail and air for the same consignment.

Convergence with other schemes

Krishi UDAN 2.0 was designed as a convergence scheme rather than a standalone air-cargo subsidy. The main linkages are:

Operation Greens (MoFPI): 50% freight subsidy on air (and rail) transportation of eligible fruits and vegetables from surplus production to consumption regions. Under the TOP-to-Total expansion, 22 additional commodities are covered.
Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY): supports cold-chain infrastructure and chilled fish evacuation from landing centres to NER and metros.
APEDA: export promotion for horticulture, dairy, poultry and processed products from NER; APEDA-registered exporters can use Krishi UDAN 2.0 routes for perishable exports.
10,000 FPO Programme & PM-KISAN: farmer aggregation and beneficiary identification for producers using the platform.
Namo Drone Didi: complementary aviation-based intervention for spray services, positioning drones alongside air cargo as MoCA-anchored agri-avation interventions.
Kisan Rail: the rail leg of India's perishable-produce logistics stack — Kisan Rail feeds Krishi UDAN 2.0 gateway airports (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru) with NER and South Indian produce for onward international air movement.

Who benefits, and how

The direct beneficiary of the AAI waiver is the airline or freight operator. But because the scheme reduces the per-kilogramme air-cargo cost, the pass-through reaches:

Farmers & FPOs in NER, hilly and tribal districts — through better farm-gate prices for produce that previously reached far-away markets damaged or after a price discount.
Freight forwarders and aggregators — a viable per-kilogramme rate on lanes such as Guwahati–Delhi or Aizawl–Kolkata that would otherwise be marginal.
Airlines and airports — anchor volumes on low-density routes, and better utilisation of freighter and belly capacity.
Consumers in deficit markets — fresher perishables and, over time, lower price volatility for niche NER produce.
Exporters — feeder capacity from NER into export gateways at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai for onward international movement.

How to participate

Krishi UDAN 2.0 is a facilitation scheme, so participation looks different depending on where you sit in the value chain:

Farmer / FPO: register on the e-KUSHAL portal (or through an aggregator that is registered), list available cargo with commodity, quantity, origin district and target destination. FPOs on the 10,000 FPOs programme can pool consignments to hit minimum book weights.
Freight forwarder / aggregator: register on e-KUSHAL, match cargo to available airline capacity out of NER / hilly airports, and coordinate cold-chain first-mile from cluster to airport.
Airline / freighter operator: apply to MoCA / AAI for the Krishi UDAN 2.0 airport-charge waiver on qualifying movements. AAICLAS handles operational coordination and settlement.
Exporter: layer APEDA export incentives on top of the Krishi UDAN 2.0 route, and use e-KUSHAL to feed produce from NER into gateway airports.

Progress so far

Per PIB releases and MoCA statements, in the first two years of Krishi UDAN 2.0 several thousand tonnes of perishable produce were air-lifted out of the NER — with high-visibility movements including king chilli and pineapple from Nagaland/Manipur, kiwi from Arunachal Pradesh, orange from Tripura, dry fish from Assam and organic ginger and turmeric from Meghalaya and Mizoram. MoCA has repeatedly revised the airport list and added commodity categories based on utilisation data pulled from e-KUSHAL.

Important official links

Ministry of Civil Aviation (civilaviation.gov.in) — policy ministry; Krishi UDAN scheme notifications, airport lists and periodic progress reports.
Airports Authority of India (aai.aero) — implements airport-charge waivers under Krishi UDAN 2.0.
AAICLAS (aaiclas.aero) — AAI cargo arm; operational partner for e-KUSHAL and cargo handling at notified airports.
Press Information Bureau (PIB) — official press releases on Krishi UDAN 2.0 launch, airport list revisions and progress statistics.
APEDA (apeda.gov.in) — for export-linked support layered on Krishi UDAN 2.0 routes.

How this connects with other farmer-welfare programmes

Krishi UDAN 2.0 is the air-logistics leg of India's farmer-welfare portfolio. It is most useful when read alongside:

Operation Greens: the 50% freight-subsidy scheme for eligible fruits and vegetables — the two schemes stack directly on air cargo of TOP-to-Total commodities.
e-NAM: mandi price discovery and e-trading — feeds into e-KUSHAL as the price signal for whether to fly, rail or road a consignment.
APEDA and MPEDA: export promotion for horticulture and marine produce — Krishi UDAN 2.0 supplies feeder capacity from NER and coastal hubs.
10,000 FPO Programme: the aggregation layer that lets small farmers pool consignments into airline-viable book weights.
Namo Drone Didi: the other MoCA-anchored agri-aviation intervention — drone spray services delivered by SHG-run Drone Didis.

References

Ministry of Civil Aviation (civilaviation.gov.in) — Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme document, notifications and periodic progress statements.
Press Information Bureau (PIB) — official press releases: Union Budget 2020–21 announcement, 27 October 2021 launch of Krishi UDAN 2.0, and subsequent airport / commodity revisions.
Airports Authority of India (aai.aero) and AAICLAS (aaiclas.aero) — operational details, airport list and e-KUSHAL platform.
APEDA (apeda.gov.in) — export-facilitation linkages for horticulture and dairy from NER.

Frequently asked questions

What is Krishi UDAN 2.0 and who runs it?: Krishi UDAN 2.0 is a Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) scheme launched on 27 October 2021 to facilitate and incentivise the movement of agricultural produce — especially perishables from North Eastern, hilly and tribal regions — by air. It builds on the Krishi UDAN scheme first announced by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2020–21 and rolled out in August 2020. MoCA implements the scheme through the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and in convergence with five other Ministries: Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW), Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Fisheries/Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Commerce (through APEDA) and Tribal Affairs.
What is the benefit for airlines and farmers under Krishi UDAN 2.0?: Under Krishi UDAN 2.0, AAI provides full waiver on landing charges, parking charges, Terminal Navigation Landing Charges (TNLC) and Route Navigation and Facilitation Charges (RNFC) for Indian-registered freighter aircraft and P2C (passenger-to-cargo) converted aircraft operating out of AAI airports notified under the scheme, when the flight carries qualifying agri produce. For non-freighter belly-cargo movements on scheduled passenger flights, partial waivers apply. The waivers reduce the cost of air cargo per kilogramme, which flows through to better farm-gate prices for perishable produce like flowers, fruits, fish, meat and dairy from NER and hilly districts.
Which airports are covered by Krishi UDAN 2.0?: Krishi UDAN 2.0 initially identified 53 airports for the scheme, with priority on the North East, hilly and tribal regions. These include Agartala, Aizawl (Lengpui), Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Guwahati, Imphal, Jorhat, Lilabari, Pakyong, Shillong (Umroi), Silchar and Tezpur in the NER; Bagdogra, Leh, Srinagar, Jammu, Shimla, Kullu (Bhuntar), Dharamshala (Gaggal), Dehradun (Jolly Grant) and Pithoragarh in the hilly belt; and Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi, Vishakhapatnam, Rajahmundry and several others feeding tribal-district catchments. The current airport list is maintained on the MoCA website (civilaviation.gov.in) and the e-KUSHAL portal.
What produce is eligible under Krishi UDAN 2.0?: The scheme is designed around perishable and value-added agri produce with a short shelf life or a distant premium market. Priority categories include horticulture (flowers, fruits, vegetables), fisheries (fresh and chilled fish, shrimp), dairy, meat and poultry, and value-added / processed agri products. Non-perishable but high-value produce such as spices, honey and nuts is also supported when moved from NER, hilly or tribal-region airports. The precise commodity list, and any seasonal additions notified under Operation Greens' TOP-to-Total or NER-specific interventions, is published on the e-KUSHAL portal.
What is e-KUSHAL and why does it matter?: e-KUSHAL — Krishi UDAAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics — is the IT platform that operationalises Krishi UDAN 2.0. It provides a single window for farmers, FPOs, exporters, freight forwarders, airlines and airport operators to publish available cargo, book capacity, track shipments and access scheme incentives. It also integrates with the National Agri Trade Platform through APIs, allowing linkages with e-NAM mandi trade data, FPO databases and the Kisan Rail freight system so that the mode choice — road, rail or air — can be made based on price, distance and shelf life. The portal is hosted by MoCA / AAI Cargo Logistics & Allied Services Company Ltd (AAICLAS).
How does Krishi UDAN 2.0 converge with other Government schemes?: Krishi UDAN 2.0 sits at the intersection of six central Ministries. On the produce side it complements Operation Greens (MoFPI) — which provides 50% freight subsidy for air transport of eligible TOP + Total commodities from surplus to deficit regions — and the Ministry of Fisheries' Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for chilled fish evacuation. On the market side it links to APEDA export promotion for horticulture and dairy from NER, and to MoA&FW's 10,000 FPOs programme and PM-KISAN registered farmer database for aggregation and beneficiary identification. On the logistics side, it dovetails with the Ministry of Railways' Kisan Rail service where rail is faster than road but slower than air.
Who can benefit — is this only for large exporters?: Krishi UDAN 2.0 is designed to benefit the full value chain: individual farmers and FPOs at the origin, aggregators and freight forwarders at first-mile, airlines and airport operators at the movement stage, and processors, wholesalers and exporters at the destination. Small growers benefit indirectly because the airport-charge waiver improves the economics for airlines to run dedicated freighter services out of otherwise low-volume NER and hilly airports, and directly through Operation Greens' 50% freight subsidy when the shipment qualifies. FPOs registered under the 10,000 FPOs programme can list capacity on e-KUSHAL and pool shipments with other FPOs on the same route.
How has Krishi UDAN 2.0 performed so far?: According to PIB releases and MoCA annual reports, in the first two years of Krishi UDAN 2.0 operations several thousand tonnes of perishable produce were moved by air from NER airports — notably Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal, Aizawl and Dibrugarh — to metros and international gateways such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai. Products moved include king chilli and pineapple from Nagaland/Manipur, orange from Tripura, kiwi from Arunachal Pradesh, dry fish from Assam, and organic ginger and turmeric from Meghalaya and Mizoram. The scheme is periodically evaluated by MoCA and the airport list, waiver structure and commodity coverage are revised on that basis.

Scheme parameters, airport lists and commodity categories above summarise publicly available material on civilaviation.gov.in, AAI/AAICLAS publications and PIB press releases. Waivers, airport notifications and scheme scope are periodically revised; participants should always verify current terms on the MoCA/e-KUSHAL portal before committing to a shipment or route.