Lok Sabha Question No. 92 (STARRED), answered on 2018-07-24
Subject: Debt Relief to Farmers
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: M. B. RAJESH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 92

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 24 TH  JULY, 2018

## DEBT RELIEF TO FARMERS

- *92.    SHRI M.B. RAJESH:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè

be pleased to state: (a) the  details  of  debt  relief  given  to  the  farmers  in  the  country  during  the  last  two years and the current year; (b) whether  the  Government  offers  debt  relief  to  the  families  of  farmers  who committed suicide due to debt; and

- (c) if so, the amount allocated for debt relief during the said period?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè SINGH)

## (SHRI RADHA MOHAN

(a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 92    DUE FOR REPLY ON 24 TH  JULY, 2018.

- (a):          The  State  Governments  of  Tamil  Nadu,  Maharashtra,  Karnataka,  Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Union  Territory  (UT)  of  Puducherry  have  in  the  recent  past  have  announced  their own farm loan/debt waiver schemes to extend relief to the needy farmers in these States/UT.  The details of debt/loan waiver announced by these States/UT during the last two years and current year is given at Annexure.
- (b) & (c): Agriculture  is  a  State  subject  and  the  information  with  regard  to  debt relief  to  the  families  of  the  farmers  who  committed  suicide  due  to  debt,  if  any, extended  by  various  State  Governments  is  centrally  not  available.    However,  to reduce the debt burden of farmers and to increase availability of institutional credit to farmers, following major initiatives have been taken by the Union Government:-
- i) With a view to ensuring availability of agriculture credit at a reduced interest rate  to  farmers,  the  Government  is  implementing  the  Interest  Subvention Scheme (ISS) since 2006-07. Under ISS, the Government is providing interest subvention to make available short-term crop loans upto Rs.3 lakh for a period of one year at an effective interest rate of 4% per annum against the normal lending rate of 9% to prompt payee farmers.  Thus, the prompt payee farmers are  getting  an  interest  subvention  of  5  %  per  annum.    The  scheme  is continued in 2018-19.  Besides, some State Governments in fact also provide additional interest subvention, reducing the effective interest burden on short term crop loans to zero.
- ii) Government sets annual target for the flow of credit to the agriculture sector. Banks  have  been  consistently  surpassing  the  annual  target.  The  current year's agriculture credit flow target has been set at Rs. 11 lakh crore.

-2-

- iii) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued Priority Sector Lending Guidelines (PSL), which mandate all Domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks to earmark 18% of their Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposure (OBE), whichever is higher, as on the corresponding date of the previous year, for lending to Agriculture.
- iv)        As  per  PSL  guidelines  loans  to  distressed  farmers  to  repay  non-institutional lenders  are  eligible  under  priority  sector.  Besides  loans  to  stressed  persons (other than farmers) not exceeding Rs. 1,00,000/- per borrower to repay their debt  to  non-institutional  lender  are  also  eligible  for  the  purpose  of  priority sector lending by banks.
- v)      In  order  to  ensure  that  all  eligible  farmers  are  provided  with  hassle-free  and timely  credit  for  their  agricultural  operations,  the  Government  has  introduced the  Kisan  Credit  Card  (KCC)  Scheme,  which  enables  them  to  draw  cash  to purchase  agricultural  inputs  such  as  seeds,  fertilisers,  pesticides  as  well  as meet other agricultural and consumption needs. The KCC Scheme has since been simplified by providing the farmers with ATM enabled debit card based on one-time documentation and built-in cost escalation in the limit, etc.
- vi)       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  Government  also  promotes formation  of  Farmer  Producer  Organisations (FPOs) in a big way to enable farmers to leverage economies of scale, not only for agricultural inputs but also for enhanced marketing opportunities.
- vii) Banks  have  been  advised  by  RBI  to  waive  margin/security  requirements  of agricultural loans upto Rs.1,00,000/-, vide RBI's circular dated 18 th June, 2010.
- viii) RBI  has  issued    directions  for  Relief  Measures  to  be  provided  by  respective lending   institutions in areas   affected by natural     calamities which, inter alia,

-3- include,  restructuring/rescheduling  of  existing  crop  loans  and  term  loans, extending  fresh  loans,  relaxed  security  and  margin  norms,  moratorium,  etc. These directions have been so designed that the moment calamity is declared by  the  concerned  District  Authorities  they  are  automatically  set  in  motion without  any  intervention,  thus  saving  precious  time.  The  benchmark  for initiating relief measures by banks has also been reduced to 33% crop loss in line with the National Disaster Management Framework.

- ix)       Further,  for  empowerment  of  the  farmers,  the  Union  Government  is  making huge investments.  To give a boost to agricultural production, productivity and also  to  adopt  modern  technology  and  improved  agricultural  practices,  the budgetary  allocation  of  Department  of  Agriculture,  Cooperation  &  Farmers Welfare  has  considerably  increased  to  Rs.46700.00  Crore  in  2018-19  as against the allocation of Rs.17004.35 Crore during 2015-16 (i.e. approximately 175%). Further, the Government, mindful of the criticality of  agriculture  credit for the sector has consistently increased agricultural credit flow targets over the years  from  Rs.8,00,000  crore  in  2014-15,  Rs.8,50,000  crore  in  2015-16, Rs.9,00,000 crore in 2016-17 to Rs.10,00,000 crore in 2017-18 and for 201819, the target has been fixed at Rs.11,00,000 crore.  What is more impressive is that the financial institutions have consistently surpassed these annual credit flow targets by as much as 5% to 18% in these years.

## Loan Waivers announced by various States

## Details of States/UTs which have announced Farm Loan Waivers in recent past:

|   S.No. | Name of State                 | Details                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|---------|-------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Tamil Nadu                    | GoTN had announced waiver of loans outstanding vide GO No.50 dated 23 May 2016. Outstanding Crop Loan, MT-Agri& LT (Farm Sector) loans issued to Small & Marginal Farmers by the Cooperative Banks as on 31 March 2016 were waived. Rs. 5318.75 crore were waived in respect of 1202075 farmers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|       2 | Maharashtra                   | The Maharashtra Government announced Debt waiver for farmers vide GR dated 28.06.2017 covering 31 lakh farmers with amount of debt waiver of Rs. 30,500 crore.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
|       3 | Karnataka                     | Karnataka government vide Govt. order No CO313 CLS 2017 dated 23 June 2017 announced waiver of farm loans of up to ₹50,000 taken from State-run Cooperative Institutions covering 22 lakh farmers with amount of debt waiver of Rs. 8,165 crore.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|       4 | Uttar Pradesh                 | UP Government on April 4, 2017 announced a Rs. 30,729 crore scheme waiving crop loans up to Rs.1.00 lakh for Small and Marginal Farmers. In addition to this, Rs. 5,630 crore was allocated for writing off bad loans of around seven lakh farmers, which had become NPAs for banks. This takes the total amount allocated for loan relief to Rs.36,359 crore. The Chief Secretary, Govt. of UP, vide DO letter dated 24 May 2017 had issued a letter to CMD/CEO of all Scheduled Commercial banks informing State Govt.'s decision to implement a scheme for redemption of crop loan debt of Small and marginal Farmers of the state. |
|       5 | Jammu Kashmir                 | Jammu & Kashmir Government declared Debt Waiver scheme under KCC vide Govt order no. 16-F of 2017 dated 23-01-2017. KCC loans upto Rs. 1 lakh were given 50% waiver in a phased manner. Total amount waived was Rs.244 crore for 1.15 lakh farmers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
|       6 | Punjab                        | The Punjab Government announced Debt waiver for farmers vide Notification No. 8/259/17-Agri/2(10)/19235 dated 17.10.2017 covering 10 lakh farmers with amount of debt waiver to the tune of Rs.10,000 crore.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|       7 | Chhattisgarh                  | Chhattisgarh Govt. announced Debt relief/waiver vide its notification no. 2838/2015/02-15/30-15F dated 26 December, 2015. 25% of debt waiver was provided for, amounting to Rs. 129.76 crore for 189379 farmers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|       8 | Union Territory of Puducherry | The Union Territory of Puducherry vide G.O. Ms.10/Coop. dated 12/01/2018 announced the agriculture loan waiver Scheme 2016- 17 covering loans of all agricultural and allied activities availed through Cooperative structure as on 31.03.2016.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|       9 | Andhra Pradesh                | Andhra Pradesh Government announced Waiver of Agriculture crop loan to farmers vide GO Ms.No.164 dated 02.08.2014                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
|      10 | Telengana                     | The Telangana Government announced Debt waiver for farmers vide GO RT No.69 dated 13.08.2014                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |

## Details of loan to farmers waived during the respective year

(Amount Rs. in crore)

| Sr. No.   | Name of the State/ RO   | 2015-16     | 2015-16     | 2015-16   | 2015-16   | 2016-17     | 2016-17       | 2016-17         | 2017-18       | 2017-18     | 2017-18     | 2017-18   | 2018-19   | 2018-19   | 2018-19   | 2018-19   |
|-----------|-------------------------|-------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-------------|---------------|-----------------|---------------|-------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Sr. No.   | Name of the State/ RO   | No. of A/cs | No. of A/cs | Amount    | Amount    | No. of A/cs | No. of A/cs   | Amount          | Amount        | No. of A/cs | No. of A/cs | Amount    | No. of    | A/cs      | A/cs      | Amount    |
| Sr. No.   | Name of the State/ RO   | Coop        | RRB         | Coop      | RRB       | Coop        | RRB           | Coop            | RRB           | Coop        | RRB Coop    | RRB       | Coop      | RRB       | Coop      | RRB       |
| 1         | A & N Islands           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil             | Nil           | Nil         | Nil Nil     | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh          | 179899      | 4655        | 68.673    | 15.37     | 808681      | 90516         | 645.536         | 117.96 621239 | 88010       | 562.08      | 115.44    | 23165     | 2542      | 20.5      | 3.14      |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh       | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 4         | Assam                   | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 5         | Bihar                   | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 6         | Chandigarh              | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil Nil       | Nil             | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh            | 189379      | 0           | 129.77    | 0         | 0           | 4555          | 0 5.37          | 0             | 0           | 0           | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 8         | Goa                     | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 9         | Gujarat                 | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 10        | Haryana                 | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 11        | Himachal Pradesh        | 0           | 0           | 0         | 0         | 0           | 0             | 0 0             | 0             | 0           | 0.00        | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 12        | Jammu & Kashmir         | 5278        | 0           | 12.71     | 0         | 684         | 22487         | 1.74 52.55      | 0             | 209         | 0           | 0.75      | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 13        | Jharkhand               | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 14        | Karnataka               | 0           | 0           | 0         | 0         | 0           | 0             | 0               | 0 2227506     |             | 0 8165      | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 15        | Kerala                  | 0           | 0           | 0         | 0         | 0           | 0             | 0               | 0             | 0 0         | 0.00        | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 16        | Madhya Pradesh          | 0           | 0           | 0         | 0         | 0           | 0             | 0               | 0 0           | 0           | 0.00        | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 17        | Maharashtra             | 0           | 0           | 0         | 0         | 0           | 0             | 0 0             | 1312699       | 199742      | 5222.53     | 1117.29   | 76546     | 17243     | 344.38    | 122.82    |
| 18        | Manipur                 | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 19        | Meghalaya               | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         |               | Nil         | Nil Nil     | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 20        | Mizoram                 | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 21        | Nagaland                | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 22        | New Delhi               | Nil         | N.A.        | Nil       | N.A.      | Nil         | N.A.          | Nil N.A.        | Nil           | N.A.        | Nil         | N.A.      | Nil       | N.A.      | Nil       | N.A.      |
| 23        | Odisha                  | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 24        | Puducherry              | 4781        | Nil         | 19.31     | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 25        | Punjab                  | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | 71245         | Nil         | 308.49      | Nil       | 228093    | Nil       | 1372.39   | Nil       |
| 26        | Rajasthan               | 0           |             | 0         | 0         | 0           | 0             | 0 0             | 0             | 0           | 0.00        | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 27        | Sikkim                  |             | 0           |           |           |             |               |                 |               |             |             |           |           |           |           |           |
| 28        | Tamil Nadu              | 1202075     | Nil         | 5318.75   | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 29        | Telangana               | 883019      | 697524      | 582.15    | 900.84    | 883019      | 697197 581.33 | 897.32          | 883019        | 697248      | 581.18      | 898.28    | 0         | 0         | 0         | 0         |
| 30        | Tripura                 | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil Nil       | Nil             | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 31        | Uttar Pradesh           | 26637       | 0           | 63.9      | 0         | 0           | 0             | 0 0             | 212925        | 1474164     | 360.31      | 8097.37   | 185194    | 66420     | 152.49    | 343.63    |
| 32        | Uttarakhand             | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 33        | West Bengal             | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil         | Nil           | Nil Nil         | Nil           | Nil         | Nil         | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| TOTAL     | TOTAL                   | 2491068     | 702179      | 6195.26   | 916.21    | 1692384     | 814755        | 1228.61 1073.20 | 5328633       | 2459373     | 15199.59    | 10229.13  | 512998    | 86205     | 1889.76   | 469.59    |

Note: The information with regard to loan waived by the Commercial Banks is not available.

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