Lok Sabha Question No. 1075 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-22
Subject: Crop Loan
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: BHOLA SINGH

1075. SHRI BHOLA SINGH:

- (b) whether the farmers have received any relief measures through restructuring crop loans by allowing them to repay it later and availing fresh loans;

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state: (a) the current rate of annual interest and grant limit on crop loan and long term loans to farmers; (c) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise including Uttar Pradesh; (d) whether the Government has formulated long term plans/policy for the crop loans; and

- (e) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Financial Services

LOK SABHA Unstarred Question No. 1075 To be answered on July 22, 2016/Ashadha 31, 1938(Saka) Crop Loan

Answer The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar)

(a): The interest rates on loans have been deregulated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and they are now linked to the Base Rate fixed by the banks. However, the Government of India implements an interest subvention scheme for short term crop loans up to Rs. 3.00 lakh with a view to ensuring availability of short term agriculture credit at a reduced interest rate of 7% p.a. to farmers. Under the said scheme, additional subvention of 3% is given to those farmers who repay their short term crop loan in time, thereby reducing the effective rate of interest to 4% p.a. for such farmers.

Interest rate on long term agricultural loans are linked to the Base Rate fixed by respective banks and as such financing banks have the freedom to charge suitable rate of interest on these loans as per their loaning policy approved by their Board. However, a Long Term Rural Credit Fund (LTRCF) has been set up by the Government in National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD), under which refinance is provided to Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Cooperative Banks by NABARD at concessional rate (currently at 5.40%) so as to motivate these banks to extend agricultural term loans to farmers at concessional rate of interest.

(b) & (c): RBI has issued directions for relief measures to be provided by lending institutions in areas affected by natural calamities, which include restructuring of existing crop loans and term loans, extending fresh loans, relaxed security and margin norms, moratorium of minimum 1 year, no penal interest in respect of current dues in default, etc. These directions have been so designed that they are automatically set in motion without any intervention and this saves precious time. The State-wise details of loans restructured during the last three years (2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15), as reported by RBI, are given in Annex.

(d) & (e): 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, fertilizers, 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.

Besides the KCC policy and other initiatives mentioned in (a), (b) & (c) above,the following other measures/steps have been taken by Government/RBI/NABARD to ensure availability of hassle-free loan to farmers:



- The guidelines on Priority Sector Lending (PSL) of RBI 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.
-  Government sets annual target for the flow of credit (both crop loan and term loan) to the agriculture sector. Banks have been consistently surpassing the annual target.
-  To bring small, marginal, tenant farmers, oral lessees, etc. into the fold of institutional credit, Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) have been promoted by banks.
-  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.

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## Accounts Restructured Due to Natural Calamity in last 3 years 2012 - 13 to 2014 - 15

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| Amount in Rs Lakh  2012-13  2013-14  2014-15  State/Regional  Office of RBI  No. of Crop  loan  accounts  rescheduled  Amount  involved  No. of  Agriculture  Term Loans  accounts  rescheduled  Amount  involved  No. of other  loan  accounts  (non-  agriculture  loans)  rescheduled  owing to  natural  calamities  Amount  involved  Total no. of  rescheduled  account  Total  Amount  involved  No. of Crop  loan  accounts  rescheduled  Amount  involved  No. of  Agriculture  Term Loans  accounts  rescheduled  Amount  involved  No. of other  loan  accounts  (non-  agriculture  loans)  rescheduled  owing to  natural  calamities  Amount  involved  Total no. of  rescheduled  account  Total  Amount  involved  No. of Crop  loan  accounts  rescheduled  Amount  involved  No. of  Agriculture  Term Loans  accounts  rescheduled  Amount  involved  No. of other  loan  accounts  (non-  agriculture  loans)  rescheduled  owing to  natural  calamities  Amount  involved  Total no. of  rescheduled  account  Total  Amount  involved  Andhra Pradesh  164659  67421  44626  54395  4063  4089.52  213348  125905.82  143591  68814.86  172406  59607.77  1323  1833.84  317320  130256.47  143891  54890.75  27942  32422  2771  10886.6  174604  98199.39  Asam  0  0  0  0  0  0  Bihar  51507  50166  0  0  0  0  51507  50166  152007  108664  0  0  0  0  152007  108664  158575  123449  0  0  0  0  158575  123449  Chandigarh  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  Chhattisagarh  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

## Annex referred to in part (b) & (c) of reply to USQ No.1075 for 22.7.2016

| Gujarat           |    991 |    2048.5 | 118   | 593.21    | 30 245.19   |          | 1139   | 2886.9    |    294 |    688.16 | 93          | 1023.6   | 1           |   1.37 | 388       | 1713.13   | 141 386.41   | 114      | 676.94      | 27        | 1297.72   |    282 |   2361.07 |
|-------------------|--------|-----------|-------|-----------|-------------|----------|--------|-----------|--------|-----------|-------------|----------|-------------|--------|-----------|-----------|--------------|----------|-------------|-----------|-----------|--------|-----------|
| Jammu             |      0 |      0    | 0     | 0         | 0           | 0        | 0      | 0         |      0 |      0    | 0           | 0        | 0 0         |      0 | 0         | 1560      | 39.53        | 738      | 14.82 16407 | 694.79    |           |  18705 |    749.14 |
| Karnataka         | 141129 | 153508    | 71329 | 73100     | 0           | 0 212458 | 226608 |           |  29907 |  34353    | 8150        | 12515    | 0 0         |  38057 | 46868     | 24542     | 29156        | 11854    | 20258       | 0         | 0         |  36396 |  49414    |
| Kerala            |      0 |      0    | 0     | 0         | 0           | 0        | 0      | 0         |      0 |      0    | 0           | 0        | 0 0         |      0 | 0         | 0         | 0            | 0        | 0           | 0         | 0         |      0 |      0    |
| Madhya Pradesh    |  23249 |  13250    |       |           |             | 23249    | 13250  |           |  22525 |  13250    |             |          |             |  22525 | 13250     | 27630     | 15350        |          |             |           |           |  27630 |  15350    |
| Maharashtra & Goa |      0 |      0    | 0     | 0         | 0           | 0        | 0 0    |           |      0 |      0    | 0           | 0        | 0 0         |      0 | 0         | 410681    | 271232       | 0        | 0           | 0         | 0         | 410681 | 271232    |
| Meghalaya         |     56 |     31    | 6     | 8         | 8 15.45     | 70       | 54.45  |           |     39 |     25.5  | 8           | 12       | 5 12.56     |     52 | 50.06     | 76        | 39.6         | 26       | 38          | 14        | 41        |    116 |    118.6  |
| New Delhi         |      0 |      0    | 0     | 0         | 0           | 0        | 0      | 0         |      0 |      0    | 0           | 0        | 19 9208.4   |     19 | 9208.3953 | 0         | 0            | 0        | 0           | 3 52876.8 |           |      3 |  52876.8  |
| Odisha            |      0 |      0    | 0     | 0         | 0           | 0        | 0      | 0         |  82242 |  41048    | 11906       | 9076     | 10145 22466 | 104293 | 72590     | 0         | 0            | 0        | 0 0         |           | 0         |      0 |      0    |
| Rajasthan         |   4261 |  10117.5  | 2535  | 5615.2    | 1 1.41      |          | 6797   | 15734.04  |   1856 |   3935.9  | 714 1964.95 |          | 23 130.91   |   2593 | 6031.76   | 21664     | 33226.34     | 4636     | 8158.2      | 7 614.74  |           |  26307 |  41999.2  |
| Ranchi            |   6903 |   3359.13 | 2087  | 191.37    | 0           | 0        | 8990   | 3550.5    |   6974 |   4445.16 | 183         | 1708.18  | 1 3.03      |   7158 | 6156.37   | 2589      | 1038.3       | 1157     | 5558.4      | 0         | 0         |   3746 |   6596.66 |
| Shimla            |      0 |      0    | 0     | 0         | 0           | 0        | 0      | 0         |      0 |      0    | 0           | 0        | 0 0         |      0 |           | 0         | 0            | 0 0      | 0           | 0         | 0         |      0 |      0    |
| Tamil Nadu        |      0 |      0    | 0     | 0         | 0           | 0        | 0      | 0         |      0 |      0    | 0           | 0        | 0 0         |      0 |           | 0 0       |              | 0 0      | 0           | 0         | 0         |      0 |      0    |
| Telangana         |   8931 |  27722.1  | 423   | 14642 109 | 68527.11    | 9463     |        | 110890.89 |  56448 |  56375.1  | 16577       | 26063.13 | 35 8627.28  |  73060 |           | 91065.53  | 34280        | 40066.54 | 2516 24098  | 47        | 29499.2   |  36843 |  93663.9  |
| Tripura           |      0 |      0    | 0     | 0         | 0 0         |          | 0      | 0         |      0 |      0    | 0           | 0        | 0 0         |      0 | 0         | 0         | 0            | 0        | 0           | 0         | 0         |      0 |      0    |
| Uttar Pradesh     | 165564 | 131297    |       |           |             | 165564   | 131297 |           | 130823 | 104255    |             |          |             | 130823 | 104255    | 257244    |              | 270779   |             |           |           | 257244 | 270779    |

| Uttaranchal   |      0 |      0 | 0             | 0   | 0             | 0   |      0 |      0 | 164121          | 119113.4   |   41194 |   44481.72 | 154790   |   455628 | 360105   |   619223.59 | 8160             |   6054.98 | 5806   |       |   7804.8 |   8126 67262.4 |   22092 |   81122.17 |
|---------------|--------|--------|---------------|-----|---------------|-----|--------|--------|-----------------|------------|---------|------------|----------|----------|----------|-------------|------------------|-----------|--------|-------|----------|----------------|---------|------------|
| West Bengal   |      0 |      0 | 0             | 0   | 0             | 0   |      0 |      0 | 0               | 0          |       0 |          0 |          |        0 | 0 0      | 0           | 0                |         0 | 0      |     0 |        0 |              0 |       0 |          0 |
| Total         | 567250 | 458920 | 121124 148545 |     | 4211 72878.68 |     | 692585 | 680344 | 790827 554968.1 |            |  251231 |     156452 | 166342   |   497912 | 1208400  | 1.20933e+06 | 1091033 845708.5 |     54789 |        | 99029 |    27402 |         163173 | 1173224 |    1107911 |

## Source: Reserve Bank of India

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