Lok Sabha Question No. 2510 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-09
Subject: Institutional Credit to Farmers
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: NIHAL CHAND CHAUHAN, R. GOPALAKRISHNAN

## Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Financial Services

## LOK SABHA

Unstarred Question No. †2510

To be answered on Friday, March 09, 2018/Phalguna 18, 1939 (Saka)

## Institutional Credit to Farmers

†2510. SHRI NIHAL CHAND:       SHRI R. GOPALAKRISHNAN:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

(a)  whether the Government has taken any steps to increase the number of small and marginal farmers under the institutional credit fold;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the number of farmers targeted to be included into such institutional credit fold, State/ UT-wise;

(c) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to protect the interests of the farmers and for extending monetary support to them;

(d)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  give  extra  time  to  the  farmers  for repayment of their loan and if so, the details thereof; and

(e)  the  financial  assistance  provided/  being  provided  to  each  State/UTs  for  this purpose during the last three years and the current year?

## Answer

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla)

(a) to (c): The Government of India/ Reserve Bank of India (RBI)/ National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have, inter alia, taken the following major  initiatives  for  providing  hassle  free  crop  loans  to  farmers  including  Small Farmer Marginal Farmer (SF/MF) :-

-  As per RBI directions, Domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks are required to lend  18%  of  the  Adjusted  Net  Bank  Credit  (ANBC)  or  Credit  Equivalent  to  OffBalance Sheet Exposure (CEOBE), whichever is higher, towards agriculture. A subtarget of 8% is also prescribed for lending to small and marginal farmers including landless  agricultural  labourers,  tenant  farmers,  oral  lessees  and  share  croppers. Similarly,  in  the  case  of  Regional  Rural  Banks  18%  of  their  total  outstanding advances is required to be towards agriculture and a sub-target of 8% has been set for lending to small and marginal farmers.
-  With a view to ensuring availability of agriculture credit at a reduced interest rate  of  7%  p.a.  to  the  farmers,  the  Government  of  India  in  the  Department  of Agriculture,  Cooperation  and  Farmers'  Welfare  implements  an  interest  subvention scheme for short term crop loans up to Rs. 3.00 lakh. The scheme provides interest subvention  of  2%  per  annum  to  Banks  on  use  of  their  own  resources.    Besides, additional  3%  incentive  is  given  to  the  farmers  for  prompt  repayment  of  the  loan, thereby reducing the effective rate of interest to 4%.
-  The Government has introduced the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, which enables farmers to purchase agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, etc.  and  draw  cash  to  satisfy  their  agricultural  and  consumption  needs.  The  KCC Scheme has since been simplified  and  converted  into  ATM  enabled  RuPay  debit card with, inter alia, facilities  of  one-time  documentation, built-in  cost  escalation in the limit, any number of drawals within the limit, etc.
-  Under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, a flexible limit of Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000 has been provided to marginal farmers (as Flexi KCC) based on the land holding  and  crops  grown  including  post  harvest  warehouse  storage  related  credit needs  and  other  farm  expenses,  consumption  needs,  etc.,  plus  small  term  loan investments without relating it to the value of land.
-  RBI  has  conveyed  to  Banks  to  waive  margin/security  requirements  of agricultural  loans  upto  Rs.1,00,000/-.  Banks  were  advised  by  the  RBI  to  dispense with the requirement of 'No Due Certificate' for small loans up to Rs.50,000/- to small and  marginal  farmers,  share-croppers  and  the  like  and,  instead,  obtain  selfdeclaration from the borrower.
-  To  bring  small,  marginal,  tenant  farmers,  oral  lessees,  etc.  into  the  fold  of institutional credit, Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) have been promoted by banks. The  State-wise  details  of  number  of  accounts  and  agriculture  credit  disbursed  to

SF/MF during 2016-17 as reported by NABARD is given in Annexure.

(d)  and  (e):  RBI  has  issued    directions  for  Relief  Measures  to  be  provided  by respective lending institutions in areas affected by natural calamities which, inter alia, include, restructuring/rescheduling of existing crop loans and term loans, extending fresh loans, relaxed security and margin norms, moratorium, etc. The benchmark for initiating relief measures by banks has also been reduced to 33% crop loss in line with the National Disaster Management Framework.

Post demonetisation, the Government has taken the following measures to relieve the debt burden of farmers.

i.  The  Government  decided  that  an  additional  grace  period  of  60  days  for  prompt repayment incentive @ 3% will be provided to such of the farmers whose crop loans dues  fell  due  between  01/11/2016  to  31/12/2016  and  if  such  farmers  repaid  the same within 60 days from their due date in this period.

ii. The Government also decided to grant interest waiver for two months (November and December, 2016) for all short term crop loan availed from Cooperative Banks between 01.04.2016 to 30.09.2016 and upfront deposit of the same in the accounts of the concerned farmers.

iii. NABARD raised market borrowing for short term borrowings at prevailing market rate  of  interest  for  Rs.  17,880.78  crore  and  disbursed  the  same  borrowing  under refinance for on-lending to Cooperative Banks at 4.5% rate of interest during 201617.

| Agri Credit Disbursement SF/MF during 2016-17 Annexure to USQ2510for 09.03.2018   | Agri Credit Disbursement SF/MF during 2016-17 Annexure to USQ2510for 09.03.2018   | Agri Credit Disbursement SF/MF during 2016-17 Annexure to USQ2510for 09.03.2018   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                                                   | No. of A/cs                                                                       | Amt. Rs. Lakh                                                                     |
| 1 DELHI                                                                           | 17,854                                                                            | 1,63,676.68                                                                       |
| 2 HARYANA                                                                         | 19,71,262                                                                         | 22,58,026.59                                                                      |
| 3 HIMACHALPRADESH                                                                 | 5,04,231                                                                          | 4,82,217.71                                                                       |
| 4 JAMMU &KASHMIR                                                                  | 6,03,822                                                                          | 4,76,917.77                                                                       |
| 5 PUNJAB                                                                          | 19,07,040                                                                         | 33,29,068.38                                                                      |
| 6 RAJASTHAN                                                                       | 35,08,042                                                                         | 33,86,571.50                                                                      |
| 7 CHANDIGARHUT                                                                    | 3,328                                                                             | 20,075.04                                                                         |
| Northern Region Total                                                             | 85,15,579                                                                         | 101,16,553.66                                                                     |
| 8 ARUNACHALPRADESH                                                                | 3,934                                                                             | 2,522.33                                                                          |
| 9 ASSAM                                                                           | 7,45,989                                                                          | 3,24,039.40                                                                       |
| 10 MANIPUR                                                                        | 21,936                                                                            | 16,159.41                                                                         |
| 11 MEGHALAYA                                                                      | 38,459                                                                            | 15,122.61                                                                         |
| 12 MIZORAM                                                                        | 12,274                                                                            | 9,151.96                                                                          |
| 13 NAGALAND                                                                       | 22,977                                                                            | 8,683.18                                                                          |
| 14 SIKKIM                                                                         | 5,403                                                                             | 4,753.60                                                                          |
| 15 TRIPURA                                                                        | 2,23,185                                                                          | 97,411.57                                                                         |
| North Eastern Region Total                                                        | 10,74,158                                                                         | 4,77,844.07                                                                       |
| 16 A&NISLAND                                                                      | 6,131                                                                             | 5,627.93                                                                          |
| 17 BIHAR                                                                          | 34,67,763                                                                         | 18,58,846.67                                                                      |
| 18 JHARKHAND                                                                      | 9,32,044                                                                          | 77,091.00                                                                         |
| 19 ODISHA                                                                         | 41,83,240                                                                         | 14,52,331.23                                                                      |
| 20 WESTBENGAL                                                                     | 41,93,618                                                                         | 19,50,873.51                                                                      |
| Eastern Region Total                                                              | 127,82,796                                                                        | 53,44,770.33                                                                      |
| 21 CHHATTISGARH                                                                   | 11,55,245                                                                         | 4,47,644.16                                                                       |
| 22 MADHYAPRADESH                                                                  | 39,88,465                                                                         | 23,25,089.73                                                                      |
| 23 UTTARAKHAND                                                                    | 4,02,940                                                                          | 2,99,197.03                                                                       |
| 24 UTTARPRADESH                                                                   | 77,59,962                                                                         | 46,01,145.60                                                                      |
| Central Region Total                                                              | 133,06,612                                                                        | 76,73,076.52                                                                      |
| 25 GOA                                                                            | 34,241                                                                            | 35,228.15                                                                         |
| 26 GUJARAT                                                                        | 22,82,610                                                                         | 20,48,693.05                                                                      |
| 27 MAHARASHTRA                                                                    | 56,28,594                                                                         | 35,38,908.06                                                                      |
| 28 D&NHAVELIUT                                                                    | 2,943                                                                             | 2,891.26                                                                          |
| 29 DAMAN&DIUUT                                                                    | 1,429                                                                             | 1,314.98                                                                          |
| Western Region Total                                                              | 79,49,817                                                                         | 56,27,035.50                                                                      |
| 30 ANDHRAPRADESH                                                                  | 87,72,139                                                                         | 56,39,628.94                                                                      |
| 31 TELANGANA                                                                      | 46,13,547                                                                         | 29,44,415.51 37,80,919.69                                                         |
|                                                                                   |                                                                                   | 2,93,096.71                                                                       |
| 32 KARNATAKA 33 KERALA                                                            | 46,96,164 46,31,509                                                               | 38,31,825.82                                                                      |
| 34 PUDUCHERRY                                                                     | 3,64,546                                                                          |                                                                                   |
| 35 TAMILNADU                                                                      | 104,47,597                                                                        | 75,39,269.84                                                                      |
| 36 LAKSHADWEEP UT                                                                 | 351                                                                               | 245.70                                                                            |
| Southern Region Total                                                             | 335,25,852                                                                        | 240,29,402.22                                                                     |