Chhattisgarh is among nine States and a Union Territory in the country which have in the recent past announced their own farm loan/debt waiver schemes to extend relief to the needy farmers, the Central Government has informed.
The State Governments of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Union Territory (UT) of Puducherry have in the recent past announced their own farm loan/debt waiver schemes to extend relief to the needy farmers in these States and Union Territory (UT), it informed.
Government sets annual target for the flow of credit to the agriculture sector. Banks have been consistently surpassing the annual target. The current year’s agriculture credit flow target has been set at Rs 11 lakh crore.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued Priority Sector lending Guidelines (PSl), which mandate all Domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks to earmark 18% of their Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposure (OBE), whichever is higher, as on the corresponding date of the previous year, for lending to Agriculture.
As per PSl guidelines, loans to distressed farmers to repay non-institutional lenders are eligible under priority sector. Besides loans to stressed persons (other than farmers) not exceeding Rs. 1,00,000/- per borrower to repay their debt to non-institutional lender are also eligible for the purpose of priority sector lending by banks.
In order to ensure that all eligible farmers are provided with hassle-free and timely credit for their agricultural operations, the Government has introduced the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, which enables them to draw cash to purchase agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides as well as meet other agricultural and consumption needs. The KCC Scheme has since been simplified by providing the farmers with ATM enabled debit card based on one-time documentation and built-in cost escalation in the limit, etc.
To bring small, marginal, tenant farmers, oral lessees, etc. into the fold of institutional credit, Joint liability Groups (JlGs) have been promoted by banks. The Government also promotes formation of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in a big way to enable farmers to leverage economies of scale, not only for agricultural inputs but also for enhanced marketing opportunities.
Banks have been advised by RBI to waive margin/security requirements of agricultural loans upto Rs.1,00,000/-, vide RBI’s circular dated June 18, 2010.
RBI has issued directions for Relief Measures to be provided by respective lending institutions in areas affected by natural calamities which, inter alia, include, restructuring/rescheduling of existing crop loans and term loans, extending fresh loans, relaxed security and margin norms, moratorium, etc. These directions have been so designed that the moment calamity is declared by the concerned District Authorities they are automatically set in motion without any intervention, thus saving precious time. The benchmark for initiating relief measures by banks has also been reduced to 33% crop loss in line with the National Disaster Management Framework.
Further, for empowerment of the farmers, the Union Government is making huge investments.
To give a boost to agricultural production, productivity and also to adopt modern technology and improved agricultural practices, the budgetary allocation of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare has considerably increased to Rs.46700.00 Crore in 2018-19 as against the allocation of Rs.17004.35 Crore during 2015-16 (i.e. approximately 175%). Further, the Government, mindful of the criticality of agriculture credit for the sector has consistently increased agricultural credit flow targets over the years from Rs.8,00,000 crore in 2014-15, Rs.8,50,000 crore in 2015-16, Rs.9,00,000 crore in 2016-17 to Rs.10,00,000 crore in 2017-18 and for 2018-19, the target has been fixed at Rs.11,00,000 crore, it informed.