The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Shri Namo Narain Meena)
(a) to (e):- Whenever any complaint regarding farm loan is received by the Government/Reserve
Bank of India(RBI) with regard to certain issues relating to agriculture credit, the same are
taken up, at appropriate level, for redressal thereof. However, no separate data on specific
nature of complaints is maintained.
In order to provide credit for farmers at affordable interest rates, the Government of India,
has since 2006-07, been implementing the Interest Subvention Scheme under which short-term crop
loans upto Rs.3 lakh are made available to the farmers at an interest rate of 7 percent per
annum by the Banks. The Government of India in 2009-10 introduced an additional interest
subvention of 1 percent for farmers who repay their loans within the period of interest
subvention i.e. within one year of disbursement of such loans. This additional subvention
was increased to 2 percent in 2010-11 and 3 percent from 2011-12 onwards. The Interest
Subvention Scheme has also been extended to the private sector commercial banks from the
year 2013-14. However, no request from Ministry of Agriculture to reduce the interest rate
on farmer loans is under consideration.
The Government has revised the Kisan Credit Card(KCC) Scheme. As per the revised Scheme,
the KCC is valid for five years subject to an annual review. The farmer is required to
furnish one-time documentation at the time of first availment of loan and, thereafter,
simple declaration about crop raised/proposed is required to be given from the second
year onwards.
Besides, Banks have been advised to waive margin/security requirements of agricultural
loans upto Rs.1,00,000/-. Banks have also been advised 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 a self-declaration from the borrower.
