THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will hold talks with state-level banks to extend the date as a moratorium imposed on banks against recovery of farm credit ended on July 31. The topic is likely to be discussed in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday. Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar on Wednesday said the Reserve Bank of India was yet to respond to the state government’s demand for extending the moratorium till December 31.
In the wake of the agriculture sector suffering extensive loss, the Cabinet convened on March 5 decided to extend the moratorium till December 31. The State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) approved the government’s decision and wrote to the RBI to get clearance. The flood of 2018 resulted in a loss of Rs 3646.4 crore for the sector. Assembly records show that 12 farmers committed suicide in the state since January 2019, signalling the distress faced by the sector.
Gold Agriculture Loans
A five-member team consisting of officers from Union Agriculture Ministry, RBI, SLBC and Nabard visited five districts based on the complaint by the state government that the benefits of gold agri loans were cornered by non-farmers. They visited 30 banks in Idukki, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta for the study. A report on the findings of the team will be published in three days.
“The farmers are not getting the benefits of the loans and despite the high number of loans it is not reflected in the sector,” said the Agriculture minister. He said agri gold loans formed 62 percent of the total agriculture loan of Rs 80,803 crore. An interest subsidy component in agri gold loans makes it attractive for non-farmers to opt for the loan.
Sunil Kumar said the state government along with banks would promote Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to provide collateral free loans to farmers. He said the number of farmers using KCC would be improved through a promotion drive supported by SLBC. The state had demanded increasing the limit for collateral free loans from Rs 1.67 lakh to Rs 3.25 lakh.