No farm loan waiver by Centre, says Jaitley

His remark came as Punjab became the third State after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to announce waiver of loans given to farmers.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley arrives to address a press conference in New Delhi on June 20, 2017.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on June 20 ruled out any waiver of farm loans and asserted that the Centre would adhere to fiscal targets, including fiscal deficit.

The remark came as Punjab became the third State after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to announce waiver of loans given to farmers.

Replying to questions from the media, Mr. Jaitley said the Centre was not considering any such plan.

In 2008, the government waived farm loans to the tune of ₹74,000 crore.

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Mr. Jaitley said he would not comment on loan waivers by States and had already made his position clear last week.

On June 12, he said the Centre would not fund any of the loan waivers by States and they will have to find their own funds for doing so.

“I have already made the position clear that States, which want to go in for these kind of schemes [farm loans waiver] will have to generate them from their own resources. Beyond that the Central government has nothing more to say,” he said.