Hyderabad: In a major relief to the Andhra Pradesh government and farmers, the Reserve Bank of India has agreed to reschedule crop loans, which will make the latter eligible for fresh loans for the Kharif season.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu tweeted on Tuesday: “Spoke to RBI governor on phone. In principle, they agreed to reschedule farmer loans. Thanks for their support and understanding AP’s problems.”
It is also a sort of victory for Mr Naidu who managed to get the crop loans rescheduled before his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao despite taking charge as CM six days after Mr Rao.
Even Mr Rao has asked the RBI to reschedule the crop loans.
The RBI’s decision came in the backdrop of Mr Naidu’s perseverance with the Government of India, state level bankers’ committee and RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. But for the timely intervention, lakhs of farmers in AP would have been declared loan defaulters.
The quantum of loan to be rescheduled for AP farmers will be decided after get a letter from RBI.
“The RBI governor will write to the AP government in a day or two in which the apex bank will spell out the modalities of rescheduling the crop loans. Only after receiving the RBI letter will we be able to say how much loan waiver and how many farmers, women groups and those who took loans by mortgaging gold will benefit. But all the mandals, those hit by drought and cyclone and those not affected, would be extended with the loan waiver benefit,” said agriculture minister P. Pulla Rao and finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Tuesday.
It may be mentioned that the farm loan arrears in AP amounted to a staggering Rs 87,000 crore. The RBI will spell out whether the loans would be rescheduled for five years or seven years.
On its part, AP government has sought rescheduling of loans for seven years with a one-year moratorium. The rescheduling of loans will give much needed time to Mr Naidu to raise revenues and pay back the banks.
Agriculture minister P. Pulla Rao, meanwhile, said that the rains had reached most parts of AP. “About 60 per cent of the AP state has been covered by rains. Meteorological department officials have predicted that the remaining parts of the state would be covered by rains in the next 48 years,” he said.
The agriculture action plan includes reducing the input cost to make agriculture a profitable sector for farmers. “If required, AP government will spend Rs 400 crore to conduct soil tests, reduce use of urea and take measures to increase the yield by supplying zinc and high-productivity seeds to the farmers,” said the minister.
