Farmers those who repay the loan promptly within the deadline they get additional rebate of 3%

Banks and cooperatives have disbursed Rs.17.09 lakh crore worth of agriculture credit during 2021-22 against a target of Rs.16.5 lakh crore, said Nabard Chairman G R Chintala.

Releasing Nabard’s financial results on Thursday, Chintala said the share of crop loans is Rs.10.21 lakh crore and remaining Rs.6.88 lakh crore disbursed for agri infra and other long-term projects.

Farmers get crop loans at 7 per cent interest rate as the Centre subsidises 2 per cent. But, those farmers who promptly repay the loan within deadline gets additional rebate of 3 per cent.

Asked why the share of crop loan (less than 60 per cent in overall agri credit) has not gone up despite fishermen and others brough under ambit of Kisan Credity Card, Chintala said, this decline is on account of increase in share of term loan, which has been increasing at an AAGR of 14 per cent. “As over the years, more emphasis has been given on capital formation in agriculture, which is imperative for overall growth of sector, has resulted in higher growth in term loan disbursement in comparison to crop loan disbursement,” he said.

Also, he said, the share of cooperative banks in the crop loan is only 19.76 per cent while major share is taken by commercial banks. “Share of Cooperative Banks in overall crop loan disbursement has been increasing over the last 5 years, and reached more than Rs.2 lakh crore during FY 2021-22. The AAGR in overall crop loan disbursement during the last 5 years was 8 per cent in comparison to 10.56 per cent AAGR by Cooperative Banks,” he said.