Hyderabad: The state government has initiated steps to mobilise Rs 9,000 crore to waive crop loans of farmers who were not covered in the first three phases of the scheme between July 18 and August 15. Official sources said that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has directed the finance department to arrange funds by Dasara, aiming to deliver this relief to farmers as a festival gift by mid-October.
In the preceding phases, the finance department raised Rs 10,000 crore through bond auctions via the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in July and August. Now, the department is planning to secure an additional Rs 6,000 crore through a similar process in October, while mobilising Rs 3,000 crore from the state’s own resources.
The agriculture department has identified 5.54 lakh farmers who were left out of the previous phases of the loan waiver due to various reasons, including lack of ration cards, family identity issues, and mismatches in Aadhaar card and bank account details.
The state government directed the agriculture department to undertake a "family grouping exercise" to treat one family as a single unit. Under this scheme, each family will be eligible for a crop loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh, regardless of how many members in the family have borrowed money or whether their combined loans exceeded Rs 2 lakh.
As part of this exercise, initiated in late August, 4.28 lakh farmers were identified as not having received the benefit. Additionally, 1.26 lakh farmers were identified with discrepancies in their Aadhaar and bank account details. In total, officials estimate that waiving loans for these 5.54 lakh farmers would require Rs 9,000 crore.
The Congress government, which had promised to waive crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh during the Assembly elections, has released nearly `18,000 crore to banks in July and August, benefitting over 22.38 lakh farmers in three phases.
Revanth Reddy set a record by executing the crop loan waiver in just 27 days, from July 18 to August 15, by crediting Rs 17,934 crore into the bank accounts of 22,37,848 farmers. This fulfilled the party’s promise within eight months of coming to power in December 2023.
In the first phase, on July 18, Rs 6,098.93 crore was released to waive loans for 11,50,193 farmers with loans up to Rs 1 lakh. In the second phase, on July 30, `6,190.01 crore was waived for 6,40,823 farmers with loans between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh. Finally, on August 15, Rs 5,644.24 crore was credited to 6,40,823 farmers with loans between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh during a massive rally in Wyra, Khammam district.
