60
Another major development in the field of agricultural credit from the
banking industry concerns the loan waiver scheme of 2008, under which the
small and marginal farmers (1 to 2 hectares) were given complete waiver of
all “eligible loans” that were overdue on December 31, 2007 and remained to
be paid for the next two months until February 29, 2008. For other farmers, a
one-time settlement scheme for all similar eligible loans was introduced under
which a rebate of 25% was given against the payment of the balance 75% before
June 30, 2009. However, due to the late arrival of monsoon, the deadline was
extended to December 31, 2009 and again after the drought of 2010, it was
further extended to June 30, 2010.
These agricultural loan waiver and interest rate subvention schemes
have involved substantial fiscal burden but benefited vast numbers of farmers.
The available information on the debt waiver scheme are presented in Table
4.4.
Under the Agricultural Debt-Waiver and Debt Relief (ADWDR) Scheme
2008, lending institutions were compensated by the government in a staggered
manner (RBI 2012, p.32), also partly because the repayment deadline was
extended twice over. Of the total release of
`
52,500 crore until March 2012,
the RBI has said that
`
29,300 crore (55.8%) was passed on to NABARD for
reimbursement to RRBs and cooperatives. The balance of
`
23,200 crore
(44.2%) was for reimbursement to scheduled commercial banks, Local Area
Table 4.4: Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme
(Amount in
`
Crore)
Lending Institutions
Amount Reimbursed by Government of India (in instalments)
First
Sept. 2008
Second
Jul.2009
Third
Jan.2011
Fourth
Nov.2011
Fifth
Mar.2012
Total
RRBs and Co-operatives
17,500 10,500
1,200
40
0.0 29,240**
SCBs, UCBs and LABs
7,500
4,500
10,100
1,000
100* 23,200
Total
25,000 15,000
11,300
1,040
100* 52,440
*includes
`
81 crore balance held by RBI.
** Cumulative amounts disbursed by NABARD were:
State Co-operative Bank (SCB)
: 18,282
State Co-operative Agriculture and Rural
Development Bank (SCARDB)
: 3,843
RRBs
: 6,974
29,099
Source:
(i) RBI's
Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2011-12,
p.32.
(ii) NABARD's Annual Report 2011-12, p.15
