What is Operation Greens and which ministry runs it?

Operation Greens is a central-sector scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India. It was announced in the Union Budget 2018-19 (1 February 2018) with an initial outlay of ₹500 crore to stabilise the supply and price of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) crops. The operational guidelines were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 22 November 2018. On 11 June 2020, as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the scheme was expanded to cover 22 perishable fruits and vegetables — informally branded TOP-to-TOTAL.

Which 22 crops does the TOTAL expansion cover?

Ten fruits — banana, kiwi, lime / lemon, mosambi, orange, papaya, pineapple, pomegranate, jackfruit and mango — and twelve vegetables — french beans, bitter gourd, brinjal, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, okra (bhindi), onion, potato and tomato. The original TOP triad (tomato, onion, potato) remains the focus for long-term integrated value-chain grants; the short-term 50% transport-and-storage subsidy is available across all 22 TOTAL crops.

What exactly does the 50% subsidy cover?

Two short-term interventions. First, 50% subsidy on actual cost of transportation of eligible TOTAL crops from a notified surplus production cluster to any consumption centre in India — covering road, rail, sea, air, coastal shipping and reefer-vehicle hire. Second, 50% subsidy on the cost of hiring appropriate storage (including cold storage and reefer infrastructure) for these crops, for a maximum of three months from harvest. Both are released on submission of verified bills through the MoFPI portal.

Who is eligible to claim the short-term subsidy?

Per MoFPI guidelines, eligible entities include Food Processors, Farmer Producer Organisations and Farmer Producer Companies, Co-operative Societies, Individual Farmers, Licensed Commission Agents, Exporters, State Marketing / Co-operative Federations and Retailers — provided they are engaged in production, processing, value-addition or marketing of the identified perishable fruits and vegetables and can produce verifiable transport / storage invoices linked to surplus-cluster sourcing.

What is the long-term TOP integrated value-chain component?

For the original TOP crops, MoFPI sanctions capital grants for end-to-end integrated value-chain projects ranging from ₹25 crore to ₹50 crore in project cost. The grant-in-aid is up to 50% of eligible project cost in general areas and up to 70% in North-Eastern and Himalayan states, ITDP areas, Islands and notified Difficult Areas, capped at ₹50 crore per project. Eligible interventions span the chain — farm-gate aggregation, pre-cooling, primary processing, cold and reefer storage, processing lines, packaging, and consumer-end formats.

How and where do I apply?

Applications and claims are filed online through the MoFPI Operation Greens portal (sampada-mis.gov.in / mofpi.gov.in). Short-term transport and storage subsidy claims are submitted with proof of surplus-cluster sourcing, lifting and delivery bills, weighbridge slips and (for storage) cold-store hire invoices. Long-term TOP value-chain proposals are submitted as Detailed Project Reports through the same portal and appraised by the Project Approval Committee at MoFPI. Handholding is available through State Nodal Agencies notified under MoFPI's broader scheme suite.

How does Operation Greens fit with PMFME, AIF and Krishi UDAN?

Operation Greens, the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises scheme, the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and the Krishi UDAN air-freight assistance are designed to stack. PMFME funds the micro processing unit (35% capital subsidy up to ₹10 lakh); Operation Greens funds the in-bound perishable freight (50%) and short-term storage (50%); AIF provides 3% interest subvention on the residual term loan up to ₹2 crore; Krishi UDAN provides air-freight cost assistance for perishable cargo originating in the North-East, hill and tribal districts. Together they cover unit, throughput and logistics in one stack.

Why did the government launch this in 2018?

Tomato, onion and potato exhibit some of the sharpest price swings in Indian retail food inflation, driving consumer-price-index volatility and farmer distress during gluts. The Economic Survey 2017-18 and the Doubling Farmers' Income committee both flagged perishables logistics as a binding constraint. The Budget 2018-19 speech announced Operation Greens explicitly modelled on the dairy-sector Operation Flood — a sustained, value-chain-oriented intervention rather than a one-off market intervention — to bring TOP price stability for both farmers and consumers.

Operation Greens (TOP → TOTAL) — MoFPI 50% transport & storage subsidy for perishables

Operation Greens is a central-sector scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), announced in Union Budget 2018-19 on 1 February 2018 with an initial outlay of ₹500 crore to stabilise the price and supply of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP). The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved operational guidelines on 22 November 2018. On 11 June 2020, as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the scheme was expanded — under the working label TOP-to-TOTAL — to cover 22 perishable fruits and vegetables, with a 50% subsidy on transportation and on short-duration storage for the eligible crops.

What the scheme actually pays for

Short-term price stabilisation — 50% transport subsidy

50% subsidy on actual cost of transportation of the eligible TOTAL crops, by road / rail / sea / air / coastal shipping, from a surplus production cluster (district / agglomeration where the crop is in excess) to any consumption centre in India. Reefer-vehicle hiring cost is eligible. The producer / FPO / processor / exporter / retailer files the claim against verified bills.

Short-term price stabilisation — 50% storage subsidy

50% subsidy on the hiring cost of appropriate storage (including reefer / cold storage) for the eligible TOTAL crops for a maximum of three months from the date of harvest. Designed to let producers hold stock out of a glut and sell when prices recover, without locking capital into building their own cold chain.

Long-term value-chain development — 50% to 70% capital grant

Capital grant for integrated value-chain projects in the original TOP crops (Tomato, Onion, Potato). Project size ₹25 crore to ₹50 crore, with up to 50% grant-in-aid in general areas and up to 70% in North-Eastern / Himalayan states, ITDP areas, Islands and Difficult Areas, capped at ₹50 crore per project. Eligible interventions include farm-gate infrastructure, primary processing centres, collection centres, pre-cooling, cold storage and transport, ripening chambers, food processing and packaging units, and consumer-end retail formats.

The 22 TOTAL crops

The 11 June 2020 expansion took the original Tomato-Onion-Potato triad to a broader basket of 22 perishables. The short-term 50% transport and storage subsidy applies to all 22; the long-term integrated value-chain capital grant remains anchored on the original TOP crops.

Fruits (10)

Banana, Kiwi, Lime / Lemon, Mosambi (sweet lime), Orange, Papaya, Pineapple, Pomegranate, Jackfruit, Mango

Vegetables (12)

French Beans, Bitter Gourd, Brinjal, Capsicum, Carrot, Cauliflower, Garlic, Ginger, Okra (Bhindi), Onion, Potato, Tomato

Why Operation Greens, and why 2018

Tomato, onion and potato are three of the most volatile items in India's retail food basket. Glut-and-bust cycles in producing districts — Nashik for onion, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra for tomato, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal for potato — push wholesale prices to a few rupees a kilogram in the harvest months and to multiples of that in the lean months, while retail consumers in deficit metros pay through the volatility. The Doubling Farmers' Income committee and the Economic Survey 2017-18 both flagged perishables logistics — pre-cooling, cold storage, reefer transport, processing-grade aggregation — as a binding constraint. The Budget 2018-19 speech announced Operation Greens explicitly modelled on the dairy-sector Operation Flood: a sustained, value-chain intervention rather than a one-off market-intervention scheme.

Subsidy mechanics in one paragraph

For the short-term 50% transport subsidy, an eligible entity — a Farmer Producer Organisation, a processor, an exporter, a state marketing federation, a retailer or a licensed commission agent — moves the eligible TOTAL crop from a surplus production cluster (as notified by MoFPI / its consultant) to any consumption centre in India, by road, rail, sea, air or coastal shipping. The entity files the claim against actual transportation bills (including reefer-van hire) and MoFPI releases 50% of the cost. For the 50% storage subsidy, the same entity hires appropriate storage (including cold storage) for the eligible crop for up to three months from harvest and files the storage-hire invoice. Both are processed through the MoFPI Operation Greens portal.

Where Operation Greens shows up on the ground

FPO of mango / banana / pomegranate growers, glut season. A Farmer Producer Organisation aggregating perishables in a surplus cluster can hire reefer transport to a deficit metro market and claim 50% of the freight bill, or warehouse the produce for up to three months and claim 50% of the cold-storage hire — without having to build the cold chain itself. This pairs naturally with the FPO scheme.
Food processor sourcing TOP crops from a glut state. A puree / paste / dehydration unit can lift tomato from a Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh glut, onion from Nashik or potato from West Bengal-Uttar Pradesh and claim 50% of the inbound freight to the factory gate. The capital cost of the processing line itself can in parallel sit under the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises subsidy.
Exporter consolidating perishables for air-freight. An exporter consolidating mango, pomegranate, capsicum or okra for air or sea export can claim 50% of the cost of inland transport from cluster to port / airport. This stacks with the Krishi UDAN air-freight assistance for North-East and tribal districts under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Cold-chain / pack-house operator building an integrated project. An integrated TOP value-chain project — collection centre + pre-cooling + cold storage + reefer vans + processing line — can claim a long-term capital grant of up to 50% (70% in NER / Himalayan / ITDP) of project cost, capped at ₹50 crore per project. The same project may receive the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund 3% interest subvention on the residual loan.
State marketing / cooperative federation managing buffer. State marketing federations (for example NAFED-aligned co-operatives, MARKFED, HOPCOMS, MAHA-FPC) can use Operation Greens to move tomato / onion / potato buffer stock between states during a glut and recover transport and storage costs at 50%, complementing the price-support work under PM-AASHA.

How this connects with other schemes on this site

Operation Greens is one rung in MoFPI's perishables stack and interlocks with several schemes already documented here. The capital grant for the integrated value-chain project sits alongside the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) 35% capital subsidy at the micro end and the cold-chain components of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY-MoFPI) at the larger end. On the residual term loan, the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund offers a 3% interest subvention up to ₹2 crore. On the upstream side, the 10,000 FPO scheme aggregates the producers who become the natural Operation Greens claimants, while the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) funds the orchard, pack-house and primary cold-chain that feed perishables into the consolidation point. On price discovery, the produce moving under Operation Greens often finds its market through e-NAM mandis, and surplus stabilisation interplays with the price-support work under PM-AASHA. For the export promotion authority that regulates and supports the outward movement of TOP-and-TOTAL perishables once they leave the domestic mandi, see our APEDA guide. For irrigation that underpins perishables clusters in the first place, see PMKSY Per Drop More Crop and the umbrella PMKSY guide. Plan your Operation Greens claims against the season using the India crop calendar.

References

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (mofpi.gov.in) — Operation Greens scheme page, operational guidelines and the notification of the 22 TOTAL crops.
Press Information Bureau (PIB), Government of India — Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approval of Operation Greens guidelines (22 November 2018) and the 11 June 2020 TOP-to- TOTAL expansion announcement under Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Union Budget 2018-19, Budget Speech (indiabudget.gov.in) — original Operation Greens announcement with the ₹500 crore outlay for the TOP value-chain.
SAMPADA-MIS portal (sampada-mis.gov.in) — MoFPI's management information system through which Operation Greens claims and integrated value-chain proposals are filed.
National Horticulture Board (nhb.gov.in) — production estimates for TOP and TOTAL crops, cluster maps and cold-chain infrastructure databases that inform surplus-cluster notifications.
Krishi UDAN 2.0(Ministry of Civil Aviation) — the airport-charge waiver scheme for air movement of perishable agri produce from North-East, hilly and tribal districts. Operation Greens' 50% transport subsidy stacks directly with Krishi UDAN 2.0 waivers for TOP-to-Total consignments moved by air, and both settle through the e-KUSHAL portal.

Frequently asked questions

What is Operation Greens and which ministry runs it?: Operation Greens is a central-sector scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India. It was announced in the Union Budget 2018-19 (1 February 2018) with an initial outlay of ₹500 crore to stabilise the supply and price of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) crops. The operational guidelines were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 22 November 2018. On 11 June 2020, as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the scheme was expanded to cover 22 perishable fruits and vegetables — informally branded TOP-to-TOTAL.
Which 22 crops does the TOTAL expansion cover?: Ten fruits — banana, kiwi, lime / lemon, mosambi, orange, papaya, pineapple, pomegranate, jackfruit and mango — and twelve vegetables — french beans, bitter gourd, brinjal, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, okra (bhindi), onion, potato and tomato. The original TOP triad (tomato, onion, potato) remains the focus for long-term integrated value-chain grants; the short-term 50% transport-and-storage subsidy is available across all 22 TOTAL crops.
What exactly does the 50% subsidy cover?: Two short-term interventions. First, 50% subsidy on actual cost of transportation of eligible TOTAL crops from a notified surplus production cluster to any consumption centre in India — covering road, rail, sea, air, coastal shipping and reefer-vehicle hire. Second, 50% subsidy on the cost of hiring appropriate storage (including cold storage and reefer infrastructure) for these crops, for a maximum of three months from harvest. Both are released on submission of verified bills through the MoFPI portal.
Who is eligible to claim the short-term subsidy?: Per MoFPI guidelines, eligible entities include Food Processors, Farmer Producer Organisations and Farmer Producer Companies, Co-operative Societies, Individual Farmers, Licensed Commission Agents, Exporters, State Marketing / Co-operative Federations and Retailers — provided they are engaged in production, processing, value-addition or marketing of the identified perishable fruits and vegetables and can produce verifiable transport / storage invoices linked to surplus-cluster sourcing.
What is the long-term TOP integrated value-chain component?: For the original TOP crops, MoFPI sanctions capital grants for end-to-end integrated value-chain projects ranging from ₹25 crore to ₹50 crore in project cost. The grant-in-aid is up to 50% of eligible project cost in general areas and up to 70% in North-Eastern and Himalayan states, ITDP areas, Islands and notified Difficult Areas, capped at ₹50 crore per project. Eligible interventions span the chain — farm-gate aggregation, pre-cooling, primary processing, cold and reefer storage, processing lines, packaging, and consumer-end formats.
How and where do I apply?: Applications and claims are filed online through the MoFPI Operation Greens portal (sampada-mis.gov.in / mofpi.gov.in). Short-term transport and storage subsidy claims are submitted with proof of surplus-cluster sourcing, lifting and delivery bills, weighbridge slips and (for storage) cold-store hire invoices. Long-term TOP value-chain proposals are submitted as Detailed Project Reports through the same portal and appraised by the Project Approval Committee at MoFPI. Handholding is available through State Nodal Agencies notified under MoFPI's broader scheme suite.
How does Operation Greens fit with PMFME, AIF and Krishi UDAN?: Operation Greens, the PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises scheme, the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and the Krishi UDAN air-freight assistance are designed to stack. PMFME funds the micro processing unit (35% capital subsidy up to ₹10 lakh); Operation Greens funds the in-bound perishable freight (50%) and short-term storage (50%); AIF provides 3% interest subvention on the residual term loan up to ₹2 crore; Krishi UDAN provides air-freight cost assistance for perishable cargo originating in the North-East, hill and tribal districts. Together they cover unit, throughput and logistics in one stack.
Why did the government launch this in 2018?: Tomato, onion and potato exhibit some of the sharpest price swings in Indian retail food inflation, driving consumer-price-index volatility and farmer distress during gluts. The Economic Survey 2017-18 and the Doubling Farmers' Income committee both flagged perishables logistics as a binding constraint. The Budget 2018-19 speech announced Operation Greens explicitly modelled on the dairy-sector Operation Flood — a sustained, value-chain-oriented intervention rather than a one-off market intervention — to bring TOP price stability for both farmers and consumers.

Outlays, eligible crops, surplus-cluster notifications and grant caps under Operation Greens evolve with each MoFPI operational guideline. Confirm current rates and the cluster list with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries and the SAMPADA-MIS portal before designing a claim or a value-chain project.