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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has asked the Andhra Pradesh government about how a more focused assessment of crop yields can be made to justify the restructuring of agricultural loans in the state.
"We are in discussion with the government to say, where exactly the distress is so that we can take a more reasoned and focused view. It doesn't appear from the production data, that the cyclone had widespread damage," said RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday.
Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had announced farm loans and gold loans (taken for agricultural purposes) would be waived up to Rs 1.5 lakh per family. But RBI said it is yet to see merit in this demand.
"Prima facie, it doesn't look like the 50 per cent criterion is being met by any of the districts. Now that is not a hard and fast rule but that is a rule of the thumb that we have been using form the master circular. So we are in discussion with the government to say, where exactly the distress is," Rajan added.
According to RBI's norms, rescheduling of loans is generally allowed only if the crop yield is less than 50 per cent.
