Farm Loans

How election promises of farm loan waivers hurt India's banking sector

Many bankers are complaining about deteriorating credit culture. The villain is farm loan waivers, often a promise of political parties ahead of elections

Will waive farm loans, raise MGNREGA allowance after coming to power: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said loans of farmers will be waived and the daily allowance under the MGNREGA scheme will be raised from Rs 250 to Rs 400 soon after the party government is formed at the Centre post elections. Addressing a campaign rally at Segaon under Khargone Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made up his mind to alter the Constitution and eventually scrap it. "Soon after coming to power at the Centre, the Congress government will waive loans of farmers and raise the MGNREGA allowance from Rs 250 to Rs 400 per day," he said. Congress has fielded Porlal Kharte and Narendra Patel from Khargone (ST) and Khandwa Lok Sabha constituencies, respectively. "This election is being fought for saving the Constitution, reservations, and also the Jal, Jungle, and Jameen of tribal people, and public sector," Gandhi said. PM Modi wants to give all these things to 22-25 billionaires including Adani, he alleged. He s

Banks insisting CIBIL score of farmers will face FIRs: Maharashtra DY CM

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said banks asking for CIBIL score from farmers before allotting crop loans would face FIRs. If a bank is found asking CIBIL score from farmers seeking crop loan, then an FIR should be filed against such bank. A decision is already taken by the state-level banking committee that the CIBIL score condition cannot be applied during crop loan disbursement. The Reserve Bank has also issued a circular regarding the same," Fadnavis told reporters in Amravati after holding a kharif season review meeting for the eastern region of Maharashtra. He said if some banks are going to harass farmers unnecessarily, then the government will have no other option but to register an FIR against such banks. He said some banks in Amravati have diverted the subsidy amount deposited into the bank accounts of farmers towards loan repayment. Not all the banks have been doing it, but some banks in Amaravati are found indulging in such practices. I h

Will waive farm loans in Telangana if Congress comes to power: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the 3,500-km 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' on Monday said farm loans would be waived in Telangana if his party comes to power in the next elections. Speaking at a public meeting in Jukkal constituency before entering Maharashtra, he said hospitals were being privatised and education system was being destroyed in Telangana. Farmers are not getting a supporting price. No farmer feels that farming is a profitable venture. The UPA government waived agriculture loans to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore. We promise farm loans will be waived when we come to power, he said. Alleging that the ruling TRS government is not implementing the Tribal Bill that the UPA government had brought, the Congress leader said the lands of Dalits and Adivasis that were allegedly grabbed would be returned to them. He alleged that education has become expensive and one has to spend lakhs of rupees to become an engineer or doctor. He charged BJP and TRS with working in tandem an

Kejriwal promises farm loan waiver if AAP voted to power in Gujarat

Announcing yet another pre-poll "guarantee" in Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said his party, if voted to power in the state, will waive farm loans and also create a mechanism to buy produce from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP). In his address to farmers at Dwarka town of Devbhumi Dwarka district, the Delhi Chief Minister also promised to conduct a fresh survey of land as farmers were unhappy with the survey conducted recently by the BJP government. "Though MSP is announced every year, farm produce is not sold at that price. It is my guarantee that our government will buy at MSP if farmers do not find any other buyer who is willing to buy their produce at MSP. We will start with five farm produce such as wheat and paddy, and then add more," said Kejriwal in his address. Without elaborating, the Delhi CM also promised loan waiver for Gujarat farmers under an AAP government. "I learnt that farmers in Gujarat get electricity at night to irrigate ..

Retail, farm credit get traction in May amid Covid-induced slowdown

Credit to Mid, small units also see higher growth

Covid-19 crisis: Slippages may jump to Rs 5.5 trillion, says India Ratings

Credit costs could touch Rs 2.7 trillion

Farmers can continue to avail special interest rate till May 31, says RBI

This will be applicable for short-term crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh per farmer, the RBI said

Farm loan write-offs touch Rs 4.7 trillion in last 10 years, says report

Most of these write-offs have been only in paper as actual write-offs have not been more than 60%

Perils of loan waivers

Waiving farm loans has led to higher NPA in agriculture

UP govt asks sugar mills to clear farmers' dues by Oct 31, warns of action

On Wednesday, the Allahabad High Court directed the state government to clear dues of sugarcane growers

25-quarter low GDP growth to hit bank earnings, increase asset quality pain

Besides recent corporate slippages, slowdown would impact unsecured retail loans, farm and micro finance loans, commercial real estate and NBFCs and poorly-rated corporates with risk of downgrades

For agricultural loans, bankers call for longer repayment period

There were also suggestions to have an agriculture credit guarantee scheme, and a stronger institutional network to prevent multiple lending in the agriculture sector

Devendra Fadnavis moots penalty on lenders failing to meet crop-loan target

The crop-loan target for FY19 was Rs 58,324 crore for Maharashtra

Farmer loans in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and MP will soon be waived: Rahul

The Congress is set to form the government in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh following assembly polls in the three states

Ahead of 2019 polls, Mamata govt to disburse Rs 70-bn farm loans at 2% rate

The state government would shoulder the financial burden of the cheaper farm loans

Loan politics

Farm debt waivers have serious adverse consequences

The UP model: Farm loan write-offs win votes in India, but may hurt economy

Taking their cue from Uttar Pradesh, more state governments could waive loans to farmers

Govt has no plans to waive farm loans, says Santosh Kumar Gangwar

The government has no plans to waive farm loans but there are schemes to reduce costs by timely repayment of the amount borrowed, the government said in Parliament today. "There is no proposal under consideration of the union government to waive...Loans of farmers of the country. However, to reduce the debt burden of farmers...Major initiatives have been taken," Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. He was replying to a query whether the government was seeing a growing demand to write off farm loans. Farmers are given loans at reduced rate of 7 per cent for crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperative & Farmers' Welfare with an interest subvention scheme. Under the scheme, additional subvention of 3 per cent is given to those farmers who repay their short term crop loan in time, thereby reducing the effective rate of interest to 4 per cent per annum for such farmers, he said. Besides, ...

Rising farm loans, defaults another worry for banks

For most banks, 5-6% loans to agriculture sector are NPAs; way lower than mid, large corporate loans