The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Shri Namo Narain Meena )
(a): The details of loans outstanding against the farmers in North Eastern(NE) States of
the country including the State of Assam during the last three years in respect of Regional
Rural Banks(RRBs) & Cooperative Banks is attached as Annex-I. The details of loan outstanding
in NE States, including Assam, in respect of Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding RRBs and
Cooperative Banks) is attached as Annex-II.
(b) & (c): No such proposal is under consideration of the Government, at present.
(d): To enhance the flow of credit to the NE States, the following measures have been taken :-
# State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and Regional Rural Banks(RRBs) have been enabled to
avail larger quantum of refinance for short term credit for seasonal agricultural operations.
# Quantum of refinance for banks in NE Region was kept at 25% higher than other parts
of the country.
# Full refinance support was extended to banks for all eligible purposes and 90% for
State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks(SCARDBs) of bank loans.
# 90% of the project cost was provided as loan under Rural Infrastructure Development
Fund(RIDF) for social sector and rural connectivity projects to State Governments of NER.
# 100% of project outlay was provided to banks/other institutions for eligible purposes
from Financial Inclusion Fund(FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund(FITF).
# The minimum members in a Self Help Group (SHG) was relaxed to 5 members in hilly
districts of NER for being eligible for grant assistance from NABARD.
