Farm waiver scam: Fin Ministry says banks fully into the job

Banks are making good progress on collecting data and recovery wherever needed after the central auditor picked holes in the Rs 71,680-crore farm loan waiver scheme of 2008, a top Finance Ministry official said here today.

"It doesn't seem too bad. We are having action taken by all the banks. Recoveries have started and banks have been told to draw a complete list of the people who got missed out," financial services secretary Rajiv Takru told reporters after a meeting the RBI brass here.

The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) had picked holes in the farm loan waiver package announced in the 2008 Budget. The CAG report, tabled in Parliament last month said loans taken by farmers for non-agricultural purposes and others which did not comply with the eligibility norms got benefited from the scheme and blamed bank officials for the mess.

Following the disclosure, the Reserve Bank had swung into action and asked banks to rectify the administrative and accounting lapses by verifying each and every account. It had also thrusted the responsibility to do so individually on the heads of the banks.

"The matter is being addressed by all the banks...I suppose it will take a month or two, but that problem will also get resolved," Takru said.

Takru further said the matter also got discussed at the board meeting of the largest lender State Bank of India earlier in the day, which he attended before coming over for the luncheon meet at RBI.