The State government has sought more funds from the National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD) to cover an additional 10-15 lakh farmer families under the cooperative sector lending from next year.
Currently, of about 78 lakh farmer families in the State, 22 lakh families avail loan from the cooperative sector and 28 lakh families are within the nationalised bank ambit, while 28 lakh families are outside the institutional credit system.
Speaking to presspersons here on Monday, Cooperation Minister Bandeppa Kashempur said: “Nearly 28 lakh farmers are not taking institutional credit. When Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and I met the Union Agriculture Minister recently, we appealed to him to increase funding by NABARD, which refinances farm loan, from the current 40% to 75 % to cover more families.”
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“If NABARD increases funding to 75%, the State will get an additional ₹2,500 crore. NABARD has agreed to increase the quantum to 60% from which about 10 to 15 lakh families will benefit,” he said.
‘No confusion’
Stating that there is no confusion over the government’s commitment to provide money to DCC banks, he said that once these banks provide the list of farmers, money will be released by the Finance Department. The total farm loan waived by the government in the cooperative sector has been ₹17,612 crore, including ₹8,165 crore by the Siddaramaiah government and ₹9,448 core by the current coalition government. He said that the total loan in cooperative sector banks was ₹10,700 crore, of which ₹9,448 crore is less than ₹1 lakh per farmer.
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Meanwhile, the government is also planning to ask departments to transfer money kept in long-term deposits to the apex bank. Directions have been issued to APMCs to transfer deposits worth ₹520 crore.
6,000 fake accounts found
Amidst the process of farm loan waiver, the State government has identified 6,000 fake loans in the cooperative sector where the accounts of deceased members have been misused by secretaries. Cooperation Minister Bandeppa Kashempur said that ₹50 crore loan has been shown through these accounts. In one instance in Mandya, a secretary of a society has been renewing ₹2.5 lakh from a dead member’s account. To prevent this fraud, Aadhaar numbers are being linked to accounts, he said.
Nationalised banks: Loan waiver order on Thursday
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has said the government will issue an order regarding waiver of farm loans borrowed from nationalised banks on Thursday. The government has planned to waive loans borrowed from nationalised banks in four phases.
“The banks have also agreed to the formalities adopted by the government to waive the loans. We will fulfil the promise given to farmers of the State,” the Chief Minister told presspersons at Haradanahalli in Holenarsipur taluk on Monday.