Lok Sabha Question No. 410 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-22
Subject: Kisan Credit Cards
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Giridhari Yadav, Ashok Mahadeorao Nete

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE (SMT NIRMALA SITHARAMAN)

- ( a) to (e) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## Government of India Ministry of Finance

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO†*410

ANSWERED ON 22.07.2019/ASHADHA 31, 1941 (SAKA)

## KISAN CREDIT CARDS

## †*410  SHRI GIRIDHARI YADAV: SHRI ASHOK MAHADEORAO NETE:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  the  eligibility  rules/  criteria  laid  down  by  the  Government  for  issue  of  the  Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to farmers;
- (b) the details of the various benefits provided to the KCC holders;
- (c) the number of complaints received by the Government regarding non-issue of KCC to the eligible farmers during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise;
- (d) the action taken by the Government in this regard and the outcome thereof so far; and
- (e) the number of KCCs issued till date and the number of cards targeted to be issued during the current year, State/UTwise?

## ANSWER

## Statement  referred  in  reply  to  parts  (a)  to  (e)  of  Lok  Sabha  Starred  Question  No.  †*410  to  be answered on 22.07.2019 regarding Kisan Credit Cards by SHRI GIRIDHARI YADAV and SHRI ASHOK MAHADEORAO NETE:

(a) & (b): The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was introduced in 1998 for issue of KCC to farmers. The eligible beneficiaries include all Farmers - Individuals / Joint borrowers who are owner cultivators; Tenant Farmers, Oral Lessees & Share Croppers; Self Help Groups (SHGs) or Joint Liability Groups of Farmers including tenant farmers, share croppers etc.   The scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support  from  the  banking  system  which  enables  farmers  to  meet  the  short  term  credit  requirements  for cultivation of crops; Post-harvest expenses; Produce marketing loan; Consumption requirements of farmer household;  Working  capital  for  maintenance  of  farm  assets  and  activities  allied  to  agriculture;  and Investment  credit  requirement  for  agriculture  and  allied  activities.  The  scheme  is  implemented  by Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Small Finance Banks and Cooperative Banks.

The KCC Scheme has since been simplified and provides for issue of ATM enabled RuPay Debit Card, inter alia, with facilities of one-time documentation, built-in cost escalation in the limit, multiple delivery channels for drawal of the limit, any number of drawals within the limit, etc. The short term component of the KCC limit is in the nature of revolving cash credit facility.

The credit limit/ loan amount under KCCs is fixed by Banks as per guidelines prescribed in the Master Circular  dated  July  4,  2018  issued  by  RBI.  The  short  term  credit  limit  under  KCC  for  the  first  year  is determined based on Scale of Finance for the crop (as decided by District Level Technical Committee) x Extent of area cultivated + 10% of limit towards post-harvest/household/ consumption requirements + 20% of  limit  towards  repairs  and  maintenance  expenses  of  farm  assets  +  crop  insurance  and/or  accident insurance including personal accidental insurance scheme (PAIS), health insurance & asset insurance. The limit for second and subsequent years (3rd, 4th and 5th year) is arrived  based on first year limit for crop cultivation  purpose  plus  10%  of  the  limit  towards  cost  escalation  /  increase  in  scale  of  finance  and estimated term loan component for the tenure of KCC, i.e., five years. The short term loan limit arrived for the 5th year plus the estimated long term loan requirement will be the Maximum Permissible Limit (MPL) and is to be treated as the Kisan Credit Card limit.

Under the KCC Scheme, a flexible limit of ` 10,000 to ` 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.

Farmers holding KCCs are eligible beneficiaries of the interest subvention scheme through which short term crop loans of upto ` 3 lakh are provided to farmers at an effective interest rate of 4% per annum. The benefits of KCC along with interest subvention have been extended to Animal Husbandry and Fisheries farmers.

In addition to availing the benefit of crop insurance scheme of the Central Government, the KCC holder has  the  option  to  avail  the  benefit  of  any  type  of  asset  insurance,  accident  insurance  (including  PAIS), health insurance (wherever product is available) and have premium paid through his/her KCC account.

(c) & (d): Data on specific nature of complaints, such as complaints regarding non issuing of KCC to eligible  farmers,  is  not  centrally  maintained  as  reported  by  RBI  and  National  Bank  for  Agriculture  and Rural  Development  (NABARD).  RBI  has,  however,  informed  that  they  have  introduced  Banking Ombudsman Scheme with an object of enabling resolution of complaints relating to services rendered by banks  and  to  facilitate  the  satisfaction  of  settlement  of  such  complaints.  22  offices  of  the  Banking Ombudsman  across  the  country  receive  complaints  alleging  deficiency  in  banking  services  under  the ground of complaints prescribed in the Scheme. Complaints pertaining to 'delay in sanction, disbursement or non-observance of prescribed time schedule for disposal of loan applications' and 'non-acceptance of application for loans without furnishing valid reasons to the applicant' are covered under the said scheme.

(e): State-wise details of number of operative KCCs are given at Annexure.

- *******

## Annexure to Lok Sabha SQ †*410 for 22.07.2019

## State-wise Operative / Live KCCs

| Sr. No.   | State / UT          | Operative/Live KCCs   |
|-----------|---------------------|-----------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh      | 4,537,913             |
| 2         | A & N Islands       | 9,041                 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh   | 61,013                |
| 4         | Assam               | 926,778               |
| 5         | Bihar               | 2,750,634             |
| 6         | Chandigarh          | 7,561                 |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh        | 1,438,740             |
| 8         | Dadra & Nagar Havel | 445                   |
| 9         | Daman & Diu         | 393                   |
| 10        | Goa                 | 15,376                |
| 11        | Gujarat             | 2,450,022             |
| 12        | Haryana             | 2,118,450             |
| 13        | Himachal Pradesh    | 316,783               |
| 14        | Jammu & Kashmir     | 407,810               |
| 15        | Jharkhand           | 988,118               |
| 16        | Karnataka           | 4,022,885             |
| 17        | Kerala              | 1,248,817             |
| 18        | Lakshadweep         | 43,571                |
| 19        | Madhya Pradesh      | 6,830,003             |
| 20        | Maharashtra         | 5,841,226             |
| 21        | Manipur             | 22,866                |
| 22        | Meghalaya           | 87,308                |
| 23        | Mizoram             | 21,675                |
| 24        | Nagaland            | 114,345               |
| 25        | New Delhi           | 3,987                 |
| 26        | Odisha              | 3,839,519             |
| 27        | Puducherry          | 34,456                |
| 28        | Punjab              | 2,025,906             |
| 29        | Rajasthan           | 5,734,802             |
| 30        | Sikkim              | 19,817                |
| 31        | Tamil nadu          | 2,042,474             |
| 32        | Telangana           | 3,951,003             |
| 33        | Tripura             | 289,394               |
| 34        | Uttar Pradesh       | 12,453,720            |
| 35        | Uttarakhand         | 564,092               |
| 36        | West Bengal         | 2,862,257             |
|           | TOTAL               | 68,083,200*           |

Source: RBI and NABARD

*The total number includes KCCs issued by Public & Private Sector Banks as on 31.03.2019 and by Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks as on 31.01.2019.

## (No. in Actual)