Double the number of agricultural Custom Hiring Centres

Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs), which rent farm machinery to small and marginal farmers, continue to expand under the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM, strengthened in 2021 with over Rs 6,000 crore till 2025-26). Reported counts vary by definition: around 26,662 CHCs established by 2024-25 under the government scheme, with substantially higher totals when FPO-, cooperative- and PACS-led centres are included. Digital booking platforms and hub-and-spoke models are being scaled. However, a clear doubling of the ~25,000 baseline (to roughly 50,000) attributable to the scheme is not yet evidenced. Partial.