President of the government-appointed Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Sawalamban Mission Kishore Tiwari today said micro-finance firms from Andhra Pradesh were lending money at exorbitant rates in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
The district administration must take stringent action against the erring micro-finance companies operating in Yavatmal and elsewhere, said Tiwari in a press release here.
The micro-finance firms lend money to Women Self Help Groups at a very high interest rate, and deploy goons to collect the repayment instalments through coercion, he said.
In some cases their agents also seize household utensils, cattle and other movable assets of the debtor, Tiwari said.
"The Mission has received a number of complaints against the micro-finance companies," he said, adding that district administration had failed to take prompt action on complaints.
"We have summoned a review meeting at Wani on Thursday to take a stock of the situation followed by another meeting at the Collector's office here on Friday," he said.
Naik Mission has been set up by Maharashtra government to provide relief to the farmers in Vidarbha region, which had become infamous in the recent past for agrarian crisis and farmer suicides.
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