Rs 8,08,318 crore agriculture credit disbursed till December 2016

NEW DELHI: Agriculture credit to the tune of Rs 8,08,318 crore has been disbursed in the current fiscal till December 2016, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Finance Santosh Gangwar said a total of Rs 8,77,527 crore worth of agriculture credit have been disbursed in 2015-16 and Rs 8,45,328 crore in 2014-15.

The central government, the Reserve Bank of India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development have taken a number of steps to provide hassle-free crop loan to farmers, including small and marginal farmers and landless labourers.

As per RBI directions, domestic scheduled commercial banks are required to lend 18 per cent of the Adjusted Net Bank Credit or Credit Equivalent to Off-Balance Sheet Exposure, whichever is higher, towards agriculture, he said.

A sub-target of 8 per cent has also been prescribed for lending to small and marginal farmers and share croppers.

Similarly, in case of regional rural banks, 18 per cent of their total outstanding advances is required to be towards agriculture and a sub-target of 8 per cent has been set for lending to small and marginal farmers.

"Government implements an interest subversion scheme to ensure that short term crop loans upto Rs 3 lakh are available to the farmers at a reduced interest rate of 7 per cent per annum. An additional 3 per cent incentive is given to the farmers for prompt repayment of the loan, reducing the effective rate of interest to 4 per cent," he said.

Gangwar said government fixes agriculture credit disbursement targets for the banking sector every year and banks have consistently surpassed these targets.