State Bank of India, Hyderabad Circle, saw its agriculture loan portfolio shrink in 2014-15, something unusual that it attributes to the farm loan waiver scheme of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
“My levels [of agri loans] have gone below what it was in March 31 [2014], and currently it is Rs. 1,100 crore to Rs.1,200 crore below that,” Chief General Manager of the Circle C.R. Sasikumar told presspersons here on Tuesday. The decline was not in line with the otherwise good credit culture of both the States, he added. It was in last 20 years, the agricultural lending of SBI dropped. Stating there was a negative growth in the portfolio in both the States, he said the lack of repayments by farmers and delay in payment of waiver amounts by the two governments led to about 10 per cent NPA in agricultural loans.
Of around Rs. 23,000 crore agricultural portfolio, SBI made a claim of Rs. 17,000 crore to Andhra Pradesh government, which in turn has so far released Rs. 1,587 crore, while Telangana gave Rs. 515 crore on account of loan-waiver to the bank.
The bank, however, is not the only one whose agriculture loan portfolio did not expand. The senior official estimated the loan disbursement across the two States to be 30 per cent below the target. To a query, he replied that the bank expected the agriculture loan disbursement to be better in the new fiscal “as some kind of closure has come.” Farmers now realise “this is money we will get,” from the waiver, he said, pointing out that the expectations ran higher about the benefits. The bank, in the two States, is seeing NPA in self-help groups (SHG), “which inhibit us from taking further exposure… has vitiated the atmosphere.”
OLA cabs
Mr. Sasikumar was speaking at the flagging off of Ola Cabs financed under a nationwide scheme of SBI for the taxi aggregator. Describing it as an attractive scheme for entrepreneur drivers, he said apart from the finance for the cabs, the product covers vehicle insurance as well as accident insurance of the driver.
