| The normal crop area in the state for the season is estimated at 37.02 lakh hectares. |
| During the just-concluded kharif season, all the financial institutions "" including nationalised, private and co-operative banks "" had disbursed Rs 7,010 crore, as compared to Rs 5,105 crore disbursed up to the same period during the previous kharif season. |
| The overall growth in credit disbursement has been about 27.45 per cent though the achievement as compared to the target stood at Rs 93.46 per cent. |
| Addressing the state-level bankers' committee chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy complimented the banks for the increased credit flow to the rural sector. |
| He, however, was critical about the performance of the financial institutions on long-term lending. Out of the total farm and allied credit during the kharif season, crop loans saw an increase 33.31 per cent to Rs 5,105 crore. |
| During the same period, the agricultural term loans increased to Rs 581 crore from Rs 462 crore in the last kharif, registering a 25.75 per cent growth. |
| Commenting on the high interest rates on farm credit as compared to industrial loans, the chief minister said, "When Indira Gandhi was the prime minister, the interest rate on rural credit was about four per cent as compared to eight per cent on industrial loans. Now the situation is completely reversed." |
| He said that the Union government has agreed to fix village as a unit for the existing crop loan scheme, provided an additional Rs 50 lakh was given to the insurance companies towards additional operational costs. |
| Insurance coverage for the crops taking the village as a unit instead of the present practice of mandal as a unit would soon be introduced in three districts of the state on a pilot basis, the chief minister said. |
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