Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis meets Sharad Pawar for consensus on farm loan waiver

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the “biggest ever” loan waiver on Saturday, upping the loan waiver limit from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh per farmer. Announcing the decision, Fadnavis said that 90 % of farmers will benefit from the move.

Calling the decision “historic and unprecedented”, Fadnavis chaired a cabinet meeting and cleared the move. Addressing a press conference, the chief minister said that the write-off would cost the state around Rs 34,000 crore. Fadnavis admitted that the state would have to face a huge financial burden under the scheme called Chhatrapati Maharaj Krisha Samman Yojana. The state already has a debt of Rs 3.56 lakh crore. “I am aware that a huge burden will fall on us, we will have to allocate less money in other departments.

However, we are standing strongly behind this decision,” he said. Fadnavis said the state would not be able to completely pay off the loans owed by the farmers to the banks in one go and hence would initiate talks with banks for a staggered payment. Aware that farmers are demanding a waiver of their entire loan, the CM said, “We can’t take on more burden than this. It is the biggest loan waiver in the country.”


To encourage farmers who have been paying off their loans, the government would deposit money in their accounts. It would be 25% of the loan amount but would not exceed Rs 25,000. However, the farmers’ steering committee is insisting on a complete waiver. It will hold a meeting on Sunday to decide the next course of action.