New Delhi: Seeking to bring all landholding cultivators within the institutional credit system, the Centre is set to launch a special drive to reach out to all farmers with Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) by doubling its footprint from 6.95 crore to around 14 crore active cards ahead of general elections.
New Delhi: Seeking to bring all landholding cultivators within the institutional credit system, the Centre is set to launch a special drive to reach out to all farmers with Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) by doubling its footprint from 6.95 crore to around 14 crore active cards ahead of general elections.
The aim is to issue KCCs to eligible farmers within two weeks of submission of application forms.
The Indian Banks Association issued an advisory to all banks last week asking them to waive processing, documentation, inspection, ledger folio charges and all other service charges for KCC and crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh — a move which may save a farmer applying for KCC Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000.
“The agriculture ministry has written to all states and UTs seeking their cooperation . Idea is to saturate farmers with KCCs so that they can access institutional credit and avail interest subvention,” agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal said.
“Decision to waive off various service charges is a good move. It’ll save Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 of an applicant if adopted by banks. Complexities involved in it force farmers to even hire lawyers to approach banks for KCC,” said Sudhir Panwar, president of Kisan Jagriti Manch, which works among farmers in UP.
“Credit is provided to farmers to purchase inputs. Interest is, however, not linked to inflation. So, even 4% interest is too high for them,” said Panwar, arguing that if government waives off interest on crop loan completely, there will never be demand of loan waiver.
The aim is to issue KCCs to eligible farmers within two weeks of submission of application forms.
The Indian Banks Association issued an advisory to all banks last week asking them to waive processing, documentation, inspection, ledger folio charges and all other service charges for KCC and crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh — a move which may save a farmer applying for KCC Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000.
“The agriculture ministry has written to all states and UTs seeking their cooperation . Idea is to saturate farmers with KCCs so that they can access institutional credit and avail interest subvention,” agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal said.
“Decision to waive off various service charges is a good move. It’ll save Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 of an applicant if adopted by banks. Complexities involved in it force farmers to even hire lawyers to approach banks for KCC,” said Sudhir Panwar, president of Kisan Jagriti Manch, which works among farmers in UP.
“Credit is provided to farmers to purchase inputs. Interest is, however, not linked to inflation. So, even 4% interest is too high for them,” said Panwar, arguing that if government waives off interest on crop loan completely, there will never be demand of loan waiver.