THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(SHRI PAWAN KUMAR BANSAL)
(a) : The total amount of credit given to agriculture sector by banks during the last three
years and the current year, region-wise, is detailed below :-
(Rs. Crore)
Sl. No. Name of the Region 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08@ 2008-09$
1. Northern 50448.38 63458.00 21483.23 9470.04
2. North Eastern 935.71 825.29 177.91 79.14
3. Eastern 12216.27 15393.56 4365.24 1569.18
4. Central 23133.65 31293.12 13536.77 4224.13
5. Western 26177.93 33520.62 10418.13 4616.84
6. Southern 63512.06 80212.63 18516.50 6452.74
7 Others 4061.57 4696.66 - -
8. Commercial Banks - - 175072.13# 53,296.76# Total 180485.57 229399.88 243569.91 79708.83
@ Provisional figures upto March, 2008
$ Provisional figures upto August, 2008
# State/Region-wise figures are yet to be compiled.
(b) & (c) : There is no specific report which suggests that farmers from backward regions
of the country including Orissa are facing difficulty in getting farm credit. The Government
of India (GoI) has taken the following steps to ensure increased accessibility of credit for
farmers :-
# Since Kharif 2006-07, the GoI is providing interest subvention to Public Sector Banks
(PSBs), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Cooperative Banks on their own funds and concessional
refinance to Cooperative Banks and RRBs through NABARD to ensure Short Term crop loans upto
Rs.1 lakh in 2005-06 and upto Rs.3 lakh thereafter to farmers at an interest rate of 7% per
annum at the ground level. To enable the lending institutions to continue disbursing crop
loans at an interest rate of 7% per annum, in spite of increase in their cost of funds, the
Government has increased the rate of interest subvention from 2% till 2007-08 to 3% in
2008-09.
# Banks have simplified the procedure for documentation for agricultural loans.
# Loans upto Rs.50,000/- have been made collateral and margin free and the requirement
of ‘No Dues Certificate’ has been dispensed with.
# Banks have been advised to provide all eligible farmers with Kisan Credit Cards.
# Banks have been instructed to achieve financial outreach through provision of a General
Credit Card to households, to open “No Frills†accounts with limited overdraft facilities,
to extend financial outreach by utilizing services of Civil Society Organisation like Farmers
Clubs, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Post Offices as Business Facilitator/Business
Correspondent Model, etc.
