Govt announces waiver of bad loans of about 1 lakh farmers

Bengaluru: The state government on Saturday decided to waive Non-Performing Asset loans of about one lakh farmers, who owe about Rs. 965 crore to commercial banks.

The decision comes two days after the government ordered the release of money toward farm loan waiver in commercial banks in one-go as against four instalments announced in the budget last year.

The money will be deposited in the accounts of eligible farmers in one instalment, the government had said in its June 11 order.

“Today the finance department passed an order on NPA loans of about one lakh accounts of farmers, worth Rs. 965 crore. We expect that by June end we will transfer the amount to the loan accounts of farmers,” chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar told reporters.

On June 12, the government had ordered clearance of loans under regular, overdue and restructured, which farmers had taken from commercial banks, but not under NPA.

The loan waiver had comprised restructured loans of Rs. 2,812 crore, overdue loans of Rs. 3,057 crore and incentive for regular loans Rs. 720 crore, which farmers had taken from the nationalised banks. Baskar said that with regard to commercial banks, loans of 7.5 lakh accounts have been cleared by transferring Rs. 5,297 crore.

“After the finance department’s order, NPA loans of about one lakh farmers have been waived. the total number of beneficiaries has now stands at 8.5 lakh,” Bhaskar said.

On the NPA loan, Bhaskar said the banks agreed to waive 25 per cent of the loans while the balance 75 per cent, which is approximately Rs. 740 crore, would be borne by the government. Finance Department officers said there are about 11.98 lakh loans pending in cooperative banks,which would be cleared in four instalments, as decided earlier by the government.

This comprises about one lakh people who have not furnished the requisite details, they said.

Under the crop loan waiver scheme, a maximum of Rs. two lakh would be waived. The farmer will have to bear the loan amount above Rs. two lakh, they said.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had in July last year announced waiver of farm loans to the tune of Rs. 46,000 crore to benefit about 42 lakh farmers, to be executed in phases within four years.

However, certain restrictions and conditions brought down the number of beneficiaries to about 20 lakh farmers.

This scheme was part of the JD(S) manifesto, which the chief minister implemented after taking its ally Congress in the government on board.