Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi again to waive crop loans taken by farmers in the State from commercial, private and regional rural banks (RRBs).
Mr. Siddaramaiah, who recently waived crop loans taken from co-operative banks, pointed out in the letter that 80% of farm loans had been availed from commercial banks and RRBs.
He said that about 51 lakh farmers had taken loans worth ₹52,744.28 crore as on March 31, 2017. Of this, 28.73 lakh had taken ₹42,007.47 crore from commercial banks and RRBs, while 22.27 lakh farmers had availed themselves of ₹10,736.81 crore loans from co-operative banks.
He said that despite financial constraints, the State had waived short-term farm loans up to ₹50,000 per farmer. But, it would not provide relief to all farmers as it had not covered loans taken from commercial banks and RRBs.
